


Fallen Hero Multiple Prompts

by depressed-sock (jinxedragon)



Category: Fallen Hero Series - Malin Rydén, Fallen Hero: Rebirth (Video Game)
Genre: CB is just a place holder name, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Multi, Romance, Spoilers for Fallen Hero, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 20:55:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 47
Words: 32,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16730463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinxedragon/pseuds/depressed-sock
Summary: Multiple prompts from my Tumblr account depressed-sock





	1. friendship/platonic Steel & n!MC

**Author's Note:**

> Anon: 💜 friendship/platonic Steel & (f or nb?)MC from Fallen hero plz, 2nd person perspective. I am down for those 2 getting along and being happy! 
> 
> -Friendship/platonic Steel/mc; 2nd person perspective; happy moments
> 
> (I ended up adding Spoon I’m sorry I love Spoon I hope you like it!)

Today was a bad day. Unwanted thoughts squirming their way into your head, you had thought you could just walk it off but here you were, your state of mind worsening bit by bit. Maybe you should have just-

A large force barrels into your back almost knocking you off your feet. Instinctively you begin to move into a defensive position only to stop yourself as you feel big wet licks covering your hand. Your mind touches an absolute playful happiness and you look down to see a very familiar greyhound trying to get your attention.

“Spoon!” Steel…no Chen, you remind yourself, calls racing down the street towards you and the clearly errant dog. A smile makes its way onto your face as you bend down and grab Spoons leash, accepting a face full of licks, before standing up and patting his head.

Chen slows his pace watching you and Spoon carefully.

“Lose something?” you ask with a laugh holding out Spoon's leash. Chen flinches as you say that, something so minuscule you might not have caught it if it hadn’t been a mental flinch as well, a hard frown forming on his face. He eyes your hand holding out the leash before looking up and meeting your eyes.

“Let’s walk,” he says moving past you, Spoon pulls to follow him leaving you no choice but to follow.

“….How are you doing?” he asks looking at you as you walk beside him, Spoon trots ahead seeming to lead you both to what you assume is towards the Boneyard.

“Do I look that bad?” you joke staring straight ahead; you already know the answer to that. It baffles you a bit, having friendly conversations with Chen. Sometimes you’re not sure if he actually cares or if you actually care about him; other times though… you both have this silent understanding. You pick each other back up, sometimes ask how the other is and when that conversation inevitably dies you’ve got Spoon and a nice comforting silent presence beside you.

You’re still not sure how or when this ‘friendship’ developed but it’s… nice. It’s nice not to be at each other’s throats every time you two speak.

“Do you want it on a scale of 1-10?” you look up and he’s smirking at you.

“Ok..” you say suspiciously narrowing your eyes.

“About a negative 50,” his smirk widens and he looks straight ahead watching Spoon. You bark out a laugh.

“Damn it, and here I was going for a negative 100,” You smile at him and he’s chuckling now as he shakes his head.

He sobers a bit before asking again, “How are you doing?” Your eyes meet again, his have gone softer and you sigh before looking down.

Shrugging your shoulders you tell him the truth, “Rough day today.” He nods his head in response starring forward. This is what you like about Chen, he doesn’t have Ortega’s nosiness or their amount of worry. He takes it in stride and will let you speak or stay silent without forcing the matter.

You both stop at the opening to the park, Spoon excitedly pulling on the leash. His happiness overwhelmingly welcome, and you let out a chuckle.

“Well, I guess I should-“

“Stay here and play with Spoon? Yes, you should,” Chen finishes for you, smiling softly. Another thing you never expected to see from Chen. Before he had always felt like… well like steel. To say your view has morphed the more you two hang out would be an understatement.

“Better be careful Chen,” you say walking backward, facing towards Chen, into the park, “Or I might steal your dog.” You turn and start running away with Spoon, a devious smile on your face.

“Hey! Wait a second!” he sounds worried, though if your being honest, right now he’s got nothing to worry about.


	2. N!Ortega and Steel friendship and nightmares

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Seeing as you are doing this and tagged fallen hero: 💜 (f/p) with Ortega and Steel, perhaps either during Heartbreak event or comforting each other through the nightmares years later before MC resurfaces (late kitchen talk over cocoa perhaps?) 
> 
> -Fallen Hero; Ortega and Steel friendship, nightmares and comfort
> 
> 3rd or 2nd person
> 
> Alright I admittedly have a difficult time with 3rd person but I shall attempt it!
> 
> (I used Steels first name because it seems Ortega uses that when it’s just them and Steel; I also can’t tell if I made Steel to ooc because I’m pretty sure he acts differently with a close friend compared to someone he doesn’t trust annnnddd this may have turned out more angst filled than intended I’m so sorry)

 Ortega felt so paralyzed, felt so full of fear as they watch as Sidesteps hands move mechanically pulling the gun towards their own head.  

_No please not again, please just let me save them_

 Sidesteps eyes stare blankly at Ortega and Ortega want’s so badly to move. To shout and scream and make them stop but there’s nothing they can do. Nothing anyone can do as Sidestep slowly squeezes the trigger.

  ** _BANG_**

  They jump falling off their chair, sweat covering their back as they quickly scan the area. Wei stands in the doorway watching them with a frown and they quickly stand and coughing into their hand.  

 “Wei, didn’t uh…didn’t see you there,” they let out a shaky laugh, scratching the back of their head.

 “It’s 3:30 am Ortega,” he says striding into the kitchen and towards the cabinets.

 “Shit,” Ortega whispers before sitting back in the seat they fell out of, placing their head in their hands. Behind them they can hear Wei moving, cups clinking as the grab one out of the cabinet. “If it’s 3:30 why are you here?” Ortega looks up and back at Wei who’s started up the coffee machine.  They raise an eyebrow at Wei and he just responds with a shrug.

 “Had a feeling you might still be here,” he’s quiet a moment before he asks, “Do you want to talk about it?”

 Ortega sighs, rubbing their eyes, “Honestly I don’t even know.” The coffee machine beeps and Wei grabs the cup moving to place it in front of Ortega.  The sweet smell of cocoa drifts up from a slightly chipped mug and Ortega barely holds back a sob. Wei places a comforting hand on Ortega’s shoulder and Ortega grabs hold with their own hand.

 “I’m sorry,” Wei’s hand tightens on their shoulder and they let out a choked laugh.

 “Shouldn’t I be the one saying that… after everything that happened…after everything **I** let happen…”  they swallow another choked sob.

 Wei sighs and pulls up a chair beside Ortega, keeping his hand firmly on their shoulder, and he sits letting his head lean on the side of Ortega’s, “There’s nothing we could have done, we didn’t know what we were getting into and we didn’t know how it would affect any of us.”

 “I could ha-“

 “No,” Wei shifts Ortega so that they now have to look him in the eye. Softly he says, “We can’t change the past Ortega.”

 They let out another sob as Wei pulls them into a hug. The hot cocoa in the chipped mug left forgotten as Ortega cries on Wei’s shoulder.


	3. Steel & Sidestep Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: We’ve seen friendship fluff, now let’s roll for some angst! 2nd perspective Wei Chen & MC: I can’t decide between giving you- one seeing of them seeing the other have a nightmare/terror or Steel being mindcontrolled (as we know that is a thing that can happen to him from word of god) and the chaos that ensues from that sort of fight. 
> 
> -Fallen hero/ Steel and Mc/ 2nd person/ friendship angst (yeeesss… I mean uh *cough* yep I can do that.)
> 
> Right so firstly I ended up writing this on my phone (so it might have a bit more errors), secondly I realized late that I might have included a spoiler because I was so focused on angst. Soooooo if you dont mind the spoiler I’ll just let this be but if you’re avoiding spoilers dont read this.

This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. You were the one who was supposed to be in control but now… now everything felt so beyond it.

You watch as Steel stands, wiping the blood from his mouth. The look in his eyes are.. you can't tell. You can't tell if what your seeing is blankness or pure unbridled rage. Everything feels so wrong; fighting Steel feels so wrong.

It shouldn’t matter, he’s an enemy and he’s in your way. He was always going to be in your way.

But you can feel the panic building in the back of your throat. It wasn’t supposed to be this way though. Steel was supposed to be himself, not whatever it is that has its hold on him.

This fight was supposed to be just you and him… but did you honestly want to fight him?

You thought you would be strong enough, just like with Ortega but… this feels different. This feels so wrong, and every part of you is screaming at you to stop this.

It would be so easy to stop him. So easy to let the nanovores devour his implants… maybe he’d finally stop. Maybe he’d finally die.

NO! It will not have control. Lock the door don’t let it out. Focus, focus on stopping Steel. This fight isn’t to see who's strongest, who can break the easiest. This fight is to stop Steel and to save him.

Steel moves faster than you expect, why is this so hard? You counter move after the move but everything is so sluggish. Did he somehow damage your suit?

Or are you just ready to die?

The thought catches you off guard just long enough for Steel to land a solid punch, shattering your helmet. You stumble back shocked and glance up to see the sneer that covers Steels face.

“Pathetic,” he strides forward and all you can do is stumble backward until you trip landing on your backside. “Such a wretched, disgusting thing you are. A toy that thinks it’s human.” Your starting to shake. Are you crying?

“You should have stayed dead,” and you can no longer tell if It’s the one behind him holding the strings talking or if it’s what Steel really thinks.

You choke back a sob, closing your eyes, screaming as you let loose the nanovores.

…..

“Hey!”

You start, sitting straight up into a sitting position trying to choke back the sobs wracking your body. Steel stands above you looking concerned, his hand just barely reaching out as if to help you … or to hurt you.

The thought makes you shudder and bring a hand to your mouth trying to fight back the bile rising in your throat. Panic courses through you. Did you fall asleep?

Fuck!

You move off the couch you had apparently fallen asleep on. You run past Steel, past everyone in your way.

This was bad, so fucking bad. You’d let your guard down, you’d fallen asleep in enemy territory.

Does it have to be enemy territory?

Of course, it does, you know how they’d react to you. You know Steel will never truly care about you; you know that he’d be disgusted with your very existence.

It’s better to just stay focused and do what you have to when the time comes. No more fuck ups.


	4. Mentor!MC with Herald Talk about the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Saw your stories and couldn’t resist joining in the fray! So how about Mentor!MC with Herald from fallen hero in 💜, perhaps MC telling Herald embarrassing stories about Steel, Anthema and Ortega from back when they all worked together. People don’t seem so intimidating when you have mental images of their goofs. 
> 
> -Fallen Hero; Mentor MC and Herald; You didn’t put perspective so I’ll just do 2nd person hope that’s okay!; Embarrassing Stories about Steel, Anathema and Ortega
> 
> (Also used Heralds first name and I hope it’s okay but I used a more hero fighter (training) route for this.)

“Hera-… Daniel, you’re not focusing,” you say with a sigh as you bring yourself out of a defensive position. He looks at you shocked before a slight blush brightens his cheeks; he immediately looks away scratching his head.

“Sorry I’ve just uhhh…”

“Got a lot on your mind?” you ask, grabbing a water bottle off the table. Even without reading his mind you know the answer. He recently went up against Retribution… against you and lost again. Not as bad as before, but he probably took it just as hard.

He needs to understand that sometimes he just won’t win, no matter how hard he tries, no matter how much he sweats or bleeds or cries he can and will lose. If he doesn’t get over that hurdle he’ll be useless to his team and to himself.

“I guess you could say that,” he sighs walking over next to you, grabbing his own water bottle. His eyes refuse to meet yours and a frown pulls at his face. Damn it.

“Did you know that there used to be a villain that everyone would draw straws on to see who would deal with him?” you ask nonchalantly turning and leaning against the table. The air conditioner buzzes a bit in the background and you can’t help but thank god you finally convinced him to actually do your training session in a gym instead of on a roof.

He’s silent a bit looking at you shocked, “Um, no I don’t think I’ve ever heard about that.”

You snort taking a sip before continuing, “That doesn’t surprise me, I don’t honestly think you’d get anyone to really talk about it, especially Steel or Ortega.” The smile on your face is starting to hurt, you cherish these memories, if only because you can use it to embarrass everyone involved. “Come on let’s sit.” You push off the table moving to the nearby wall, you sit on the floor letting your back hit the wall with a nice solid thump.

Herald… Daniel, you remind yourself, shifts from foot to foot before following suit and sitting beside you. To his credit he only looks a bit embarrassed sitting this close to you, you should honestly deal with that before he gets the wrong idea but maybe now’s not the best time for that.

“Alright, so there used to be this villain, he called himself Goo,” you try to catch the laugh but can’t, at least now you have Daniel’s full attention. “Well, the first time we fought him we didn’t know that. So Ortega, Steel, and Anathema show up to fight him at about the same time I get there. This dude starts to do the typical villain monologue, I get bored and throw a rock at him and the rock goes straight through him; like he’s made out of fucking Goo.” You’re looking Daniel in the eyes, biting your lip trying to keep from laughing.

“He doesn’t take kindly to that, so he fucking somehow forms a giant ball of snot looking goo and throws it at us. I kind of had a heads up because,” you tap your head and he nods in understanding, “Well the others didn’t, and well,” it’s so hard not to laugh. You can still see it so clearly the looks on their faces as the goo drenched them. You’re pretty sure Steel got some in his mouth because he kept his jaw clenched the whole fight and refused to speak the rest of the day. “Well let’s just say they were finding goo in unpleasant places for the next month and a half.”

Daniel’s smiling trying to fight back his own laugh staying quiet as you continue, “The thing about Goo though… he always got away.” You somber a bit, looking at him seriously, “Admittedly he never caused much damage. I think there was only one casualty from one of his escapades and that couldn’t really be blamed on him.” Your silent a moment staring forward, “The reason we drew straws wasn’t just because no one wanted to get gooed it was because no one could catch him. We’d mostly be there to protect people and since he was a low-level threat we’d only ever need one or two people there. No one ever expected to catch him.”

You shift facing him, “Sometimes all we can do is try our best to protect people. There will be times when you can’t stop a villain; there will be times where everything feels impossible and you’ll feel broken. And all we can do to fight against that is to try.”

He looks at you in a way you can’t put into words before he lowers his head and whispers, “Thank you.”

You punch his shoulder, “Come on we still need to work on your balance.” You stand and ready yourself.


	5. N!Ortega and Herald Talk about Sidestep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: How's about Purple Heart n!Ortega and Herald, with Ortega telling them about Sidestep, 2nd perspective plz 
> 
> -Fallen hero; n!Ortega and Herald, 2nd perspective; Ortega telling Herald about Sidestep
> 
> Alright I ended up doing the perspective from Herald I hope that’s Okay!
> 
> (I let Herald say fuck lol kinda) (I’m so sorry I’ve apparently used a sidestep with weird humor lol.)

You had admittedly not expected Ortega to be here but here you both were; Ortega sitting across from you smirking and you with a bright red blush covering your face. Maybe you should have kept your mouth shut and not recited those movie lines to yourself. But, you felt like you needed a little boost, and it’s become a habit over the years since you watched one of the favorite movies that included Sidestep.

“ ‘I can sidestep anything’ ?” Ortega’s smirk is growing and they’re leaning forward across the table with a raised eyebrow.

Ok yeah, it’s even more embarrassing than you realized because you know Ortega knew Sidestep. You cough into your hand, “It.. uhh helps me sometimes..” Your face feels like it’s on fire, this is so embarrassing.

“I kind of guessed you were a Sidestep fan,” they lean back in their chair looking incredibly smug, “However your taste in movies needs to be improved.” You groan and try to hide your face in your hands, and Ortega laughs heartily. “If it makes you feel better Sidestep would have enjoyed that movie too.”

You perk up and look back up to find them staring off to the side, a fond look on their face.

“Really?” you ask because this is the first time you’ve heard Ortega talk about Sidestep. You want to know so much about them, they were your hero. What had happened to them was terrible but you wanted so badly to know and honor the good things about Sidestep.

Ortega lets out another laugh, “Well probably not in the same way as you would. They loved it when someone would add them to a movie or tv show because they enjoyed making fun of what people thought they were like.” Ortega shakes their head, a fond smile on their face. “I think they’re favorite was ‘The Truth Under the Mask’.”

“No,” you whisper, shaking your head unconsciously. No way would anyone like that, it was horrible, so terrible you don’t think you could ever find a legal copy of it. It was so full of nonsense and it ended with Sidestep being unmasked, revealing not a regular person’s face…but a fucking gerbil’s face.

Ortega laughs, “Yep. We couldn’t get them to stop reciting lines from it for months. I think they even made a fake license with the picture of that same gerbil.” Ortega’s laughing again and you can’t help but join them. Maybe it’s not so bad, it seems Sidestep had a sense of humor. Still up in the air whether you could say it was a good sense of humor though.

Ortega looks at you thoughtfully, “You know what I think I still have a copy of that movie.” They move, getting out of their chair and head towards the doorway, “Well you coming?” They’re smirking again and you can’t help but swallow a lump in your throat. You could suffer through one movie if it meant knowing Sidestep better.


	6. Steel & Sidestep Nightmares (Steel POV)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Wow, I’m the person who sent in the Steel and MC angst and can i just say you delivered 200%, ouch- my heart has been ripped out and I’m loving it. Bless Steel, the after effects of that incident would be an interesting read, especially what’s rattling through his head. 101/10 will read again- a lot!  
> Anon: Could I ask for a 2nd perspective Steel with n!MC 💔 that is a switch of perspectives of the one where Chen sees them having a nightmare? I really wanna see what he was going through and what he heard them say while asleep + how he reacted after they bolted. Thank you! 
> 
> -I hope you both like it!!!  
> Steel Pov as sidestep has nightmare; 2nd pov; angst  
> (I added a tiny head cannon too)

It was the whimpers that drew your attention as you made your way down the hall. They came from one of the more private waiting rooms, one most people wouldn’t have had access too.

You look into the room, finding Sidestep curled up on the couch sleeping. It’s not something you really expected to see, especially considering you don’t think you’ve ever seen them let their guard down.

They might have in the past, probably with Ortega or even Anathema. Never with you, and as far as you knew they stopped letting their guard down when they came back.

Came back… you had a feeling it was so much more than a simple came back.

Sidesteps whimpers start to become heavy sobs; they’re body shaking uncontrollably. A distinct feeling courses through you and you almost step back in fear because you know…you know this is what Sidestep is feeling. Absolute terror and a single thought of ‘please stop’.

This experience alone proves some of your fears about Sidestep’s abilities but it also proves something else. Sidestep feels broken, cut into pieces and stitched awkwardly back together. Whatever happened to them caused more damage than Ortega knows or suspects.

Your body moves automatically, striding forward; your hand reaching out and their name on your lips when they suddenly start screaming.

“Hey!” You hear yourself shout and Sidestep reacts fast; sitting up barely able to breathe their body shaking uncontrollably. They glance at you immediately recoiling and they quickly bring a hand to their mouth.

You start to retract your hand, worry etching itself into your face but before anything can be said Sidestep is pushing past. Running with clearly no intention to stop.

You should just let them be. You don’t know what they’ve gone through and clearly, they don't want to speak about it with you. You can’t help but worry though or maybe it’s just guilt.

You sigh drawing a hand down your face. You should probably tell Ortega, instead you frown and then with a defeated sigh you start walking.

You have a feeling you know where they’re going.

……….

It has started raining by the time you’ve reached the park. You doubt they care though, especially in the state they’re in.

It doesn’t take you long to find them sitting on one of the more secluded benches. A hoodie covers their face and they’re knees are brought up into their chest, they’re shaking but whether from the cold or the night terror you're not sure.

You slowly walk up and when they don’t react you take a seat beside them.

They let out a breath and a barely audible whisper, “Go away.” You lean back stuffing your hands into your jacket.

You don’t say a word and you don’t move either.

They let out a soft laugh shaking their head, “What do you want Steel?” They turn to look you straight in the eye and they look so broken. It makes you wonder what they’d be like if you had tried harder if you tried to trust them in the past would they be sitting here with rain dripping down their face looking at you like… like you wanted to hurt them.

There’s nothing you can do to change the past… but you can still try to change the future. Maybe even stop them from whatever self-destructive path they set themselves on. Because they have done that, you don't know the shape that path takes but you know where it ends.

“I want…” you begin to say, glancing away watching the rain quietly hit the ground, “I want to be here for you.”

They choke back a laugh of disbelief. “Really? And here I thought you were just making sure I’m not a danger to anyone.”

It’s times like these that make you realize… Sidestep doesn’t always know everything you’re thinking. That might be the hardest truth you’ve had to swallow.

“No, I’m here because I don’t know how to help you.” They rest their head on their knees with a snort as you continue, “… I know I’m not the person you want to talk too…and I don’t have to be. But I want you to know that… I’ll stand by your side.”

They turn their head looking you straight in the eyes. “Everybody says something like that but the truth is none of you will care when the time comes,” they stand walking away, disappearing into the pouring rain. You let them go because right now isn’t the time to push it.

…You need to look more into what happened with Heartbreak…no you need to look more into what happened to Sidestep.


	7. Neutral!Ortega and Steel discussing Sidestep (Nightmares part 3)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Could I request 💜/💔of Neutral!Ortega and Steel discussing MC after they return, sort of in a ‘Somethings wrong with them and we feel like we’re losing them but we don’t know why or how to help’ kind of way? (Also your 3rd perspective rocks and since you said you need practice I’m lobbing this one your way). ((Love the work sunshine! It’s fantastic to read!)) 
> 
> -ahhhhhh! Thank you! =D  
> N!Ortega and Wei Discussing MC’s return; 3rd perspective  
> (This is written with the assumption Sidestep went to the therapist and then went to the park. Also I hope you don’t mind but I set this a bit after the Steel/Wei perspective angst ask. )

“They’re having night terrors,” Wei walks into Ortega’s office taking the only seat left available. Ortega jumps and quickly pulls files over what they had been reading, then look up with a confused look. Wei raises an eyebrow in question but is only met with a half-smile and shrug.

“Who’s having night terrors?” A worry raising that Herald was more messed up by what happened at the gala than he let on.

“Sidestep,” Wei states, leaning back into the chair and crossing his arms. He doesn’t know why it’s so hard to look Ortega in the eye right now.

“What!” they stand scattering the files to the floor, they start to move forward but Wei puts out a hand and shakes his head.

“Sit down Ortega.”

“But-“

“Sit,” Wei says softly and Ortega sighs, dropping back into their chair bringing their hands to their face.

“How do you know?” they mumble into their hands before bringing sighing and setting their hands in their lap. They look so tired, so concerned… so defeated.

“They fell asleep in the private waiting room,” Wei pauses a moment contemplating whether or not to continue, “Ortega… I don’t know if we can help them…” It hurts to say, far more than he thought it would. He’s looking anywhere but at Ortega, he knows they won’t accept that.

Ortega slams their hands on the desk, “We… We can and we will help them,” they’re trying so hard to fight back the doubt. To erase the looks they’ve seen from sidestep; of a person who’s given up; of a person who looks so broken that a simple breeze would shatter them completely.

They don’t know what happened to Sidestep but they know they’ll do what they can to protect them from it. Ortega has theories, so many of them, but a single thread connects them all. Someone hurt Sidestep, maybe even further in the past than they would like to think.

Wei sighs, “Are they still seeing the therapist?”

Ortega face morphs to shock, “How did you-“

“They told me,” Wei shakes his head with a soft laugh, “They assumed you would have told me.”

Ortega gives an utterly betrayed look, “I wouldn’t…”

The deadpan look Wei has them shut their mouth with a clack, a small blush spreading across their cheeks.

“I don’t know,” they say with a sigh their hand rubbing the back of their neck, “We fought about it and now they won’t tell me if they’re still going.” Ortega looks away ashamed, maybe they shouldn’t have pushed it.

Wei is silent for a moment, “I don’t think they should be left alone for long periods of time than…” He might not trust Sidestep but he doesn’t want them dead, he doesn’t want them… the image of sidesteps sobbing form makes its way into his head. The absolute terror he felt from them. He wonders for a moment if he should tell Ortega but if he did that they would never leave Sidesteps side and that may end up hurting Sidestep more than helping. “At the very least we should try to keep in contact with them at least once a day.”

“We?” Ortega leans forward confusion clear on their face.

Wei stands heading for the door, “Yes, we.” He pauses a moment in the doorway a frown on his face, “I’ll stand by both your sides…” because he knows that Ortega’s side will always be Sidesteps. He leaves without another word and Ortega watches him go before they lean down to pick up the files that had fallen.

A single picture slips out of one, and they hold it carefully before placing sidesteps picture on their board.


	8. Steel/Sidestep Steel realising he has a crush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: For a prompt for you, a red heart one perhaps? Steel realising he may have a crush on MC as they help him with his mods or perhaps they're just spending time together and he suddenly notices. 2nd perspective neutral please?
> 
> -Fallen Hero; Romance Steel/sidestep; 2nd perspective; Steel realizing he has feelings for sidestep (more like Steel in denial lol)  
> (on a belated note I have discovered I have no idea if Steel curses or if he even likes cats)  
> -I have discovered he does think cats are cute

Steel Perspective:

Sidestep scrunches up their face, concentrating as they work on repairing an old laptop; before letting out a string of curses as it sparks. They move away from it glaring and shaking their hand trying to ease the pain. It almost makes you laugh… almost.

“Whose laptop is that?” you ask placing your own tools down on the table next to theirs.

They shrug, “I don’t know. I just repair the shitty tech not deal with the customers.” They continue to glare at the laptop, scrunching their nose in disgust.

“..deal with…Wait you have a job?” you ask surprised and they turn their glare upon you. Admittedly they more look like an offended cat than anything dangerous… it’s kind of cute…

Wait… No no no no no

You did not just think Sidestep was cute. Where the hell did that thought come from?

“Yes, Chen I have a job,” they say as they stand up and strut forward until they’re standing in front of you. They…are standing really close… “What did you…” Their eyes narrow as they look you up and down. “What’s wrong with your leg?”

“Nothing,” you grit out through your teeth because why the hell would you ever think they were cute. And why do you feel… flustered? No no no no this is not happening. Your mind is playing tricks on you or maybe it’s Sidestep playing tricks on your mind.

Your eyes narrow, but all Sidestep does is roll their eyes and move back to the table they were working at grabbing tools. “Sit,” they say pointing to a nearby chair.

You cross your arms across your chest, “And why would I do that?” Yes, it has to be Sidestep, you knew they would try to pull something like this.

“Chen you’re not putting your full weight on one of your legs which either means it’s hurting or it needs to be adjusted or both,” they seem exasperated already, “Just sit down and I can help fix it.”

“Oh? You mean like the laptop?” You refuse to budge; you’re not going to fall for this trick.

“The laptop is a piece of junk,” they laugh a bit and god does that sound good. NO, you are not thinking that. “I hope the military has better tech than a shitty laptop,” their smirking; throwing and catching a screwdriver.

You clench your jaw and instead of backing down you sit stiffly onto the chair pulling up the leg of your sweats. You can always double check it after their done or at least have someone you trust check it. They let out an exasperated laugh as they sit cross-legged on the ground next to your leg; silently getting to work.

“This looks new,” they say as they open the mod studying it carefully. You grunt in response trying not to think about how close they are, how their hand feels as it moves gently between where flesh and mod combine and… Fuck no. You are in control of your thoughts and you do not like Sidestep in that way.

Your jaw begins to ache; your teeth clenching your mouth shut. It feels like its hours before Sidestep finishes. They stand up brushing off their pants than they motion for you to stand.

You stand carefully testing your weight on the leg; no more pain. You nod your head towards Sidestep and their face brightens into a beautiful smile…. Fuck.


	9. Steel Perspective Witnessing Villian Sidestep Debut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Had a thought for an off the wall prompt: 2nd perspective Steel with (in a way) Villian!MC, he wasn’t at the gala himself so he would have had to find out on the news either live or in recap; so my request is sort of to see his thought process as MC makes their debut. (No pressure though if this seems too different to what you were asking for, thanks for all the great work!)
> 
> -Steel 2nd pov of Villain! Sidesteps debut  
> I assumed you might want a full evil! Sidestep (for that extra angst and pain) hope that’s okay; Thank you to all the Anons and @smuteczekbiczo for the help!!! I hope everyone enjoys it!  
> Spoilers ahead for Fallen Hero Rebirth!!

You close your eyes, swallowing hard as you rest your head in your hands before taking a breath and sitting up straight. You hit play again.

_A woman appears on the screen taping her ear and listening intently before focusing on the camera and speaking, “We are getting reports that there have been multiple casualties and the number of injured continues to skyrocket. More on the scene.”_

_The image shifts to another woman who appears to be barely holding her composure as people around her scream, wailing in pain as others try their best to help them, “Tha-,” she pauses and takes a deep breath, “Thank you Krista, What appears to have happened is the debut of a new Villain who has taken the name Sidestep.”_

You flinch in response to the name just as you’ve done the last dozen times. It doesn’t get any easier hearing it. The real sidesteps face flashes into your mind and you can’t help but wonder how they feel watching as someone takes their name and uses it to kill. A hard frown forms on your face and you’re almost tempted not to continue; you’ve seen it so many times already what will change if you keep watching? Nothing… You let it continue to play.

_“Sidestep!?”_

_“Yes,” she pauses again closing her eyes and opening them again her focus sharper, “This villain has taken up the name of the deceased hero Sidestep.”_

_“It’s being reported that Sidestep has seriously injured two members of the Rangers; both Herald and Charge.” She looks to the side and quietly says, “Roll the footage,” and then turns back to the camera speaking louder, “The following video is of a graphic nature and viewer discretion is advised.”_

_A video begins to play a shaky camera phone catches Herald and Sidestep as they crash through a window, Sidestep quickly disengages and gets to their feet faster than Herald has time. A distorted voice comes from them, “There, little hero. Now let’s get on with your destruction.”_

The voice sends shivers down your spine. You should have been there to help stop them, but no you had thought to yourself that it was just a Gala. That nothing would go wrong… and now Herald was in surgery and Ortega couldn’t move from their hospital bed.

_The camera shutters and another video takes its place moving back as Sidestep moves towards the cameras proclaiming, “It’s time to start the show!”_

It’s painful to watch as Herald rams into the ground a few steps off from Sidestep scattering the reporters as they scream in distress. Herald’s attacks are sluggish; his reactions slow and it makes you frown in concentration. Out of all the videos you’ve watched, you don’t think you noticed Herald getting a head injury that would explain his reactions. You pause the screen as Sidestep lazily parries one of his blows. A thought begins to form but you quickly shake it away and press play again.

The parry turns into a throw and Herald gains a bit of distance before trying to ram into Sidestep only to ram into a parked van.

You wince in response and hit fast forward you know what happens next. Herald bloody and broken, letting out a scream of pain as Sidestep steps on him and then is practically tortured by Sidestep, Herald trying so hard not to scream again. Blood now covers Sidestep’s armor, and disgust feels you at the thought of this monster hurting your team.

You hit pause as the screen focuses in on Ortega running up in only they’re dress clothes, fist slamming into Sidesteps head. Idiot. You sigh setting the remote down for a moment bringing your hand up to pinch the bridge of your nose.

You should have been there; if you had been there maybe Herald wouldn’t have rushed in, maybe Ortega wouldn’t have tried to fight with no suit, hell maybe Argent would have been there earlier. You’re the marshal you should’ve been there, you should have them working as a team. But it’s so clear that you’re all not a team and you can’t change the past.

You study Ortega, they went in confident and angry but came out scared and broken. Sidestep… the name makes you grit your teeth. A name that was taken because of a personal vendetta you think. Though, an unwanted thought makes its way to you that maybe this Sidestep is the real one but you quickly shake it away. Ortega’s sidestep wouldn’t do this, no matter how much you don’t trust them they had always tried their best to help others.

The image of Ortega dangling off the ground held by their throat comes unbidden to your mind. The real Sidestep wouldn’t hurt Ortega… You can’t help but hope this is true because if it isn’t it’ll be more than Ortega who breaks.


	10. Ortega & Argent Spar and Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: In light of that last ask: 💜 Lady Argent with n!Ortega- 3rd person perspective- Sparring and talking about mind control (before or after the gala is fine, hope this is an ok/fun prompt for you!)
> 
> -It’s an Awesome prompt! (and gave me practice with sparring scenes too!) I hope you like it! =D  
> Fallen hero; Argent & n!Ortega: 3rd person; Spar and talk about mind control

“I don’t want them in my head,” Argent growls suddenly, she moves faster than Ortega expects; they barely block and parry the punch in time, stepping back to compensate as Argent moves more into their space.

“Angie…” Ortega breathes out, then strikes out with their leg only to have kicked away, they stumble a bit but recover quickly into a defensive position. “We’ve talked about this. They’re just trying to help.”

Argent snorts, “They’re broken Ortega, and they might be your,” she pulls back a moment, making sure to overemphasize her air quote, “ ‘friend’ but I doubt they can help anyone let alone themselves.” She places her hand on her hip, waiting expectantly for Ortega to try to deny it.

“My ‘friend’,” Ortega splutters a bit, before shaking out of it dropping their guard, “Angie,” they try to speak but go silent a moment. They remember how sidestep looked when they first saw that they were alive. Sitting in a small diner, eyes cast down and a frown on their face. It was so good to see them, the happiness of seeing them alive overwhelming the truth; they looked broken and wore down. Of course, Ortega was going to do their best to try to help them but maybe that’s who Angie needed right now.

So they shrug their shoulder and fall back into an attack position, “Maybe that’s why you should let them help.” They strike and Argent easily blocks, her face scrunched up as she processes their words.

“What?” she looks confused or like Ortega has finally lost their mind. She slips up and Ortega takes the opportunity to charge in closer, swiftly knocking her to the ground. They smirk as she glares up at them.

Ortega’s smirk softens into a sad smile, “They know what it’s like to have someone else in your head…I know that they’ll try their best not to cause any more harm.” Ortega’s nods their head confidently and Argent responds with a shake of her head; then kicks out her leg knocking Ortega back onto the mat with her. “Ow.” They sit up as Argent does as well.

She has a far-off look on her face, “You know out of all the shit you’ve told me about them you’ve never talked about the Heartbreak Incident.” She turns her head staring intensely at Ortega.

They shudder a bit at the mention of Heartbreak and sigh, “No, no I haven’t… Honestly I…” they seem to grit their teeth together, “Honestly I don’t want to think about it.” But they need to. They need to let Angie understand that Sidestep gets it, probably far better than they could. “They watched our friend Anathema kill themself,” they let out a bitter laugh, “Than I had to watch as Sidestep went through a fucking window.”

Argent shifts uncomfortably, “I’m sorry.” It sounds forced and they both remain silent. Thinking of the past, of losing control.

“I’ll think about it,” Argent stands and proceeds to leave the room.

Ortega lets their body fall back on the mat whispering, “That’s all I can really ask for.”


	11. Ortega & Chen in the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Seeing as (if you play your routes right) you can learn that Ortega and Chen have known each other since they both received mods- how about a 💜 2nd/3rd perspective piece with this in mind?  
> Ortega & Chen; I would very much like in the past meeting but then talking about it to someone else ie Sidestep is awesome as well! Feel free to go wild my friend!
> 
> -Fallen Hero; Ortega & Chen in the past; 2nd/3rd person  
> Spoliers? Kinda?  
> Sorry this took a bit longer than expected, I’ve started putting more attention into one of my projects so while I’ll keep doing prompts I’m probably going to be getting them out a bit slower. (I also had to go through the Fallen Hero tumblr to find the reference I was looking for and it’s even better than I remembered)  
> Based on Malin’s answer of: they both met in rehab (I’m guessing Steel and the puppy happened before he ever meet Ortega but I really like dogs so… yep!)

It was so fucking frustrating not being able to move in the right way. Even with the newly added mods walking just felt so impossible sometimes, but they’d never let it stop them. They were going to walk again, no matter the pain or frustration.

Ortega sighs as their therapist helps them back into the wheelchair and they slump back into it, taking breaks however never hurt anyone. They nod their head in thanks to the therapist who responds with a smile of their own only to have their attention pulled towards someone else.

“Excuse me,” they say as they hurry over to help another therapist and patient. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for the whole patient, doctor thing Ortega might have made a move… Oh well, at least they can enjoy the view.

They turn their head and they rub the back of their neck staring at the two polls in front of them. They couldn’t even walk yet, apparently, you’ve got to at least relearn balance and get the strength back into your legs before that can happen but god if it wasn’t frustrating. Patience was not really something they had vast amounts of, admittedly something they should probably work on.

With another sigh, they turn the wheelchair almost knocking into someone, “Shit, sorry didn’t see you there.” They look up with a lopsided grin and holy fuck this dude is buff. The man’s eyes narrow a bit but just shrugs his shoulders in response.

“It’s fine,” his voice flat but then he sighs almost bringing his hand up to his face but stopping halfway through the motion; he sends a glare at the hand before letting it fall back to his side.

Ortega's eye’s the reaction carefully before shrugging their shoulders, introductions probably wouldn’t hurt, “I’m Ortega.” They don’t hold out their hand, guessing it might be a sore spot.

A moment of hesitation before he replies, “Chen.”

….

“Wei,” Ortega tries their hardest to hide the laugh but fails as Wei immediately pins them with a glare. He doesn’t even know how they figured out his first name as he had yet to give it to them. Admittedly he suspects one of the mod technicians that is sweet on Ortega’s smile.

Speaking of which, Ortega is smiling as they watch him awkwardly handle the small excitable puppy. “They gave you a puppy. When do I get a puppy?” They turn back slightly in their wheelchair to look at their therapist. Who responds with a laugh and shaking their head when Ortega starts to pout.

Sighing Ortega turns back to Wei, watching as he carefully handles the puppy and sits down in a nearby chair letting her rest on his lap. She yips a bit in excitement and snuggles into his stomach as he pets her softly a fond smile on his face.

“She looks good on you,” Ortega comments, probably the least sarcastic remark Wei has ever heard them say in their short time knowing each other.

Wei snorts in response, “How’s therapy going?”

They groan in response leaning back into their wheelchair, “Long. They think it would go faster if they could get me in the water but…” they hold out their hand, sparks flying a bit off of it, “They’d rather I not accidentally kill myself and everyone else in the water.” They shrug their shoulders and focus back in on the puppy, “Does she have a name?”

“No.”

“Oooo, so you get to name her?”

“No.”

“Fine, I’ll name her.”

Wei brings his other hand to his face slightly pinching the bridge of his nose, “Her name is Sugar.”

“Because she’s sweet on you?”

“Ortega I can and will leave.”


	12. Steel & n!MC past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Just had to cash in on this great fic writing; Steel with neutral!MC getting into a dangerous situation against a villain back in the day and figuring out how to get back out of it.
> 
> -Fallen Hero; Steel & n!MC; 2nd perspective; past  
> I hope you like it!! (Refrences woo. Also The villain may have turned out to be creepier than what was originally planned >->)

It hurt to breathe, you think maybe that last hit broke a rib or two. Shit. This was not going good and fucking Ortega wasn’t anywhere to be found. You’re without a doubt bringing back the nickname Rubbleguy because he deserves every ounce of embarrassment you can throw at him.

“LitT..le b.iRd, wHerr.e ha.Ve y…Ou fL..own?” The garbled mechanical speech feels your every sense and it makes you shudder in fear. You crouch further into the corner you’ve hidden yourself in. You don’t know what he is and that scares you more than anything else.

His mind is real, you think, but it echoes his words and nothing else. How can you sidestep him if he doesn’t think if he doesn’t feel?

His feet clack against the floor and you have to close your eyes and take a deep breath to calm your nerves. At least you can feel Steel’s mind starting to stir as he gets closer to consciousness but he still feels too far away and you don’t know for sure how much damage he took.

A hot breath puffs against your face, and you do your best to remain still as you open your eyes. His face is inches in front of you, eyes wild and the tech sticking out of his face at odd angles gives him more of a horror vibe than a villain.

You swallow as his smile stretches almost inhumanely long. You instinctively react; punching him in the face and attempting to spring past only to be caught around the waist and thrown into the wall.

“BiR..diE bIr..d hehehehe,” he punches his hand into your stomach. You scream in pain and he laughs joyfully. “Se..E h.Ow iT scI..nGs.” You gasp in a breath and yeah those ribs are definitely now broken.

He then slams your head into the wall several times, you can feel yourself almost lose consciousness but you hold on by a thread.

You groan as his face begins to come closer. His teeth sharper than you remember.“Thanks,” another gasp in, “ but I’d rather hear you ‘sing’.” Your leg swings forward and you knee him in the groin. He lets out an almost inhuman screech as he backs away only to stop as he thumps into a very awake Steel.

Wow, you don’t think you’ve ever really seen Steel pissed before. His glare has an intensity you really hope never gets directed at you one day.

Steel grabs dark and scary, tossing him easily across the room; the guy hitting a wall with a resounding thunk right next to a window.

“Thanks,” you breathe out clutching your side. “Almost thought you weren’t getting up from that last attack.”

“Not out yet,” he cracks his neck, wincing a bit, “Are the bombs still active?”

“Yeah, I’ve been a bit busy,” you comment pointing your thumb as dark and scary starts to move. “Fuck, you know how to deactivate bombs right?”

Steels gaze shifts to you and he eyes you up down, “Yes, but so can you.” His eyes narrow a bit. Now is probably not a good time to tell him your concussion is worse than his and you wouldn’t be able to keep your focus straight enough to cut tiny wires. That’s what you do with bombs right? Fuck maybe your concussion is worse than you thought.

“Alright, you defuse bombs I’ll take dark and scary for a ride!” You lightly hit his arm before turning and running full force into the guy and through the window. The last thing you hear is Steel yelling your name.

….

Steel is pissed, not as pissed as he was with dark and scary but you’re pretty sure that he might be tempted to also punt you into a wall.

“You went through a window,” his hand has yet to leave the bridge of his nose and you think that he might have a headache or maybe that’s your own head?

“Yep,” you pop the p, leaning back on your hands. You really like the feel of solid ground beneath you.

Steel lets out an exasperated noise, “What made you think that would be a good idea?”

You shrug your shoulders, letting out a giggle. Man for some reason this whole situation just feels ridiculous now. It also makes you feel better that dark and scary is now more terrified of you than you are of him.

Steel shakes his head mumbling that he was going to call Ortega to come pick you up.

“Tell Rubbleguy he’s an asshole!” You let out another giggle and wave as Steel gives you a worried look.


	13. Steel and n!MC Dog Theft

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Fun thought of Sidestep Shenanigans; (2nd perspective for either character)- Sidestep steals Spoon and Chen tries to get them back.
> 
> -Fallen hero; Steel and n!MC; 2nd POV, dog theft  
> Yay more Spoon!!! And how about both of their perspectives ;)

Steel:

Maybe you should have paid more attention when Sidestep had walked into the building behind you. You didn’t think much about it at the time, having only been there to pick something up. You left Spoon with the receptionist who was happy to give Spoon the attention he wanted and then had taken the elevator up. Sidestep never entered the elevator.

Now, both Spoon and Sidestep were missing and you were beginning to wonder if you should have taken Sidestep’s ‘threat’ about stealing your dog more seriously.

“Which way?” You bite out as the receptionist tries to explain what happened. She nervously points right and you storm out of the building to find Spoon and the dog thief.

Sidestep:

Fuck, fucking fuck

Why the fuck is this dog so fucking fast, you think as you chase Spoon through the streets. You’re not completely sure what had grabbed his attention but he was out the door of the rangers building as soon as you opened the door to backtrack out when you noticed Steel.

Whatever it was he was really excited about it and he was definitely going for it. Fuck, Steel is going to think you actually stole his dog. It was just a joke… mostly….

“Spoon!” You shout as he skids around a corner, leash flapping behind him, you grab the edge of the building swinging yourself around the corner to follow him… and fuck this dog can definitely fucking run.

He’s already gained distance even though you’ve kept pace with him. Maybe you should look into upgrading speed boosters on your suit…

You barely have time to stop when Spoon halts at a large tree just outside a park. You’re honestly not sure which park it is at this point.

Spoon whines jumping on the tree, trying to climb up it. You stop next to him, trying to catch your breath. “What…the…fuck..” you gasp out hands on your knees as you crane your head up to see a cat hissing in the tree. You look back down at him, “ Are you…fucking…serious!?”

He barks at you happily, emitting his absolute pure happiness and joy. You sigh, standing a bit straighter looking back at the cat who is terrified.

Your mind gently nudges it and it stops hissing. Wait… fucking shit why didn’t you just make Spoon stop running? Fuck.

Steel:

You’ve taken more turns than you think to count and at this point, you might have to give up and have Ortega contact Sidestep.

You sigh and are about to turn back around when a figure catches your eye. They’re laying up against a large tree, a dog laying across they’re lap and something cradled in their arms.

You walk closer and it becomes clear that Sidestep has fallen asleep with Spoon resting on their legs, his leash wrapped around their arm that cradles a brown tabby cat that cuddles close to their stomach.

You almost feel tempted not to disturb them but Sidestep speaks up their eyes still closed and a smirk on their face.

“You’re dog ran out the fucking building after a cat.”

You snort and lower yourself next to them Spoon raising his head and happily wagging his tail.

“Hmmm and here I thought you stole my dog,” there is a slight smile to your lips as you reach forward to pet his head.

“Oh no, when I steal him you won’t even know it’s me,” they laugh letting their other hand stroke the cat’s head while it let’s out a loud purr.

“Since you’re the only one that’s threatened to steal my dog, I’m sure I can make an educated guess.”

“That’s true, guess I should settle for dual custody.”

“You’re not getting any kind of custody.”

“That’s what you think~”


	14. Gerbil Masks (Yep lol)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: ...I totally want to request this now it’s made me cackle to myself but... Nowadays n!MC messing with Steel by getting a gerbil mask (perhaps Herlad getting in on it as well he’s a good kid bless)
> 
> -Fallen hero; Steel & Mc &Herald, 2nd perspective, Turning Herald to the Gerbil side lol  
> Apparently this somehow turned into a Herald and Argent and more helps torment Steel and Ortega XD

It had been a bad day but then as you had walked by the Halloween store, you saw it. You pause mid-step; swiveling your head to the window, a manic grin on your face as you confirm what you’d seen. The fucking gerbil mask, it looks just like the one you used to torment Steel and Ortega with. You laugh maniacally as you enter the store.

….

“Here,” you say as you sit down next to Herald’s seat. You hand him one of the gerbil masks you had purchased. Admittedly you may have gone overboard by buying 25 of them.

His eyes meet yours in confusion and then his eyes dart back down to the mask with a sudden realization. “This is-“

“Yep,” it’s hard to keep the grin off your face.

“Ortega had told me that you really liked that movie … and that you use to bring it up often,” he looks a bit uncertain as studies the mask with a kind of grimace.

You laugh, “Oh no, I don’t like that movie, I love that movie,” you let out a chuckle, “Ortega’s probably tried turning those memories into good ones but the truth is me and Anathema tormented them and Steel for years with it.” Good memories for you, not so much for Steel or Ortega. There was one time you and Anathema had filled the rangers building with the masks and copies of the movie. You’re pretty sure Steel pulled some strings to try to get the movie erased from existence. Unfortunately for him, Ortega is incredibly sentimental, so you don’t have a doubt you could get them to give you a couple copies.

“umm, I’m just… Why give me a mask?” He still looks so confused as your smirk grows dangerously sharp.

….

“Sooo.”

“No,” is Argent’s immediate response as she eyes the mask in your hands. You have a feeling Ortega probably told her more about that time than they did with Herald; that’s alright you’ve got a plan, you just have to press the right buttons.

You spin the mask on your finger, a smirk on your lips, “You know,” you sigh dramatically, “Ortega can sometimes be so annoying and Steel man don’t get me started,” you shake your head and lean against the hallway wall. You look up at her tilting your head, “I bet you don’t even know the best way to get payback against them, do you?”

Her eyes narrow on you and slowly slide down to the mask, “I’m listening.”

….

Somehow you convinced everyone in the building to go along with your plan. Ortega and Steel were both out and you all worked together to set up a makeshift theater in the lobby. The movie “The Truth Under the Mask” plays loudly, and everyone in attendance wears a gerbil mask. It feels almost homey and completely ridiculous.

You’ve also somehow ended up seated between Argent and Herald giving a running commentary of the movie.

Argent hides a grimace as she tries her best to look anywhere but the movie, “Who the fuck thought creating this disaster was a good idea?” She adjusts the gerbil mask and you can tell she wants to remove it but stubbornly keeps it on. After all, this is all for the payoff.

You laugh, moving the mask slightly to pop some candy into your mouth, “Apparently this guy was going for some surrealist dramatic shit, but ended up making the most fucking hilarious film I’ve ever laid eyes on.”

Herald is enraptured by how much you’ve laughed and you can feel his happiness; it’s almost a distressing. It was also the only way you could convince him to do this; apparently, his loyalty to both Steel and Ortega is pretty strong. “I’m surprised you like films like this,” he comments with a soft laugh.

“Yeah, this isn’t even the worst one,” you shake your head with a smile. These stupid films used to help you through the rough times. They gave you something to enjoy while also soothing the fact that nobody truly knew who you were. It no longer has that soothing effect since heartbreak but it’s still good for a laugh.

The doors slam open and everyone quiets looking back at once as Steel stands in the doorway. You can almost feel the way he grits his teeth as dozens of gerbil masks stare at him, the movie playing behind us. He takes a deep breath and instead of storming out, grabs a loose mask moving to the front were you, Herald and Argent sit. He sits putting the mask on and makes a single comment, “I’m burning the movies and the masks tomorrow.”

You let out a surprised laugh, that quickly turns into hysterical giggles because you never thought Steel would put on a fucking gerbil mask. It’s around then you hear Ortega’s voice yell, “Oh Fuck NO!”


	15. Argent/Sidestep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Sorry my last ask was a bit vague, second person sidestep perspective with argent romance, a random scene works, thanks!
> 
> -Fallen hero; Argent/m!MC (though I guess it came out moreopen to interpretation?); 2nd perspective ; romance random scene  
> It’s no problem justwanted to make sure first!  
> (I was going to dosomething different instead of a cliché training scene. Then I read the updateso that’s what we get! =D)(Also this is going to be based that you’ve both beenflirting already which hasn’t happened in game just yet) (holy fuck Idon’t know what I just created)

 You block and parry, grinning as Argent’s smile turns sharp as she twists past you. This is without a doubt a bad idea but damn do you like walking the edge.  It had started as a small quip from her, _Do you really think you could take me?_ She might be stronger and faster, actually, when you think about it since you’re not in your suit she could probably tear your spine out with her hands. But… well, there’s not a but here, you just wanted to finally fight her hand to hand, no suit involved.

 There was also a danger she might recognize the way you fight. That with each punch, kick and defense you’ll both unintentionally fall into a pattern that has grown so familiar it's become second nature. A part of you wants her to figure it out because you know she’ll side with you. Or at least you hope so, all that flirting as Heartbreak can’t just be for nothing.

 Or it could and make things more challenging. This was going to be so much fun, you turn and you both have feral grins on your faces, yours reflected back at you. She probably didn't expect you to keep up as well as you have.

 You wonder if she suspects yet, you could check but where’s the fun in that? She growls rushing forward and instead of defending you let her crash into you, knocking you both back she pins your hands above your head and straddles your waist. Her eyes narrow and you can’t help but do a halfhearted shrug.

 “Come here often?” you smirk as she lets out a bark of laughter. She leans dangerously close, you can see yourself, and you look hungry. This could turn out to be more dangerous than you had intended, there are secrets that you aren’t quite ready to reveal just yet.

 “Hmm, Not yet,” she growls, she’s the predator here and you the prey…At least for now. She leans closer, close enough that you surge forward your lips meeting. A devouring kiss that doesn’t feel like enough, one of her hands tighten against your wrists the other comes up claws closing in around your neck. And…

 “Um…” You both stop, your heads turning towards Herald who has a bright blush flushing his face. You both glare at him. “Uhh. I’ll…” he points his thumb over his shoulder, “I'll just go.” He flees the training room and you groan knocking your head back against the mat. _Take the opportunity, and stop this for now._

Her hand is still tight around your wrist but you know how to get out of these situations. You take her by surprise, twisting so that she ends up on the ground and you above her. You wink, “I've got work, we’ll have to work on training later.”


	16. Ortega, Sidestep & Chen in the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Oh I have one, got the idea after that one of MC and Steel with the villain; 3rd person (or 2nd if you prefer, I’m happy no matter what since you’re writing is the BEST) n!Ortega and Chen dealing/helping with Sidestep who’s acting out of sorts (I.e. drugged by villains or major concussion sort of thing?), I just think the duo would be really disconcerted/find it ridiculous by the giggling and random things Sidestep spouts or does. (Love the gerbil prompt btw rofl 🤣)
> 
> -I’m so glad you liked those prompts! (The gerbil prompt was especially fun.)
> 
> Fallen Hero; Steel&n!Ortega&n!Sidestep; 3rd perspective; past Sidestep gets hit with the good stuff

 

“Steel, hehehe, Steel,” Sidestep giggles poking Steel’s chest. Steel sighs holding them close while swinging around a corner for cover. “You’re fuck'in strong…” their giggles turn hysterical as their head finds it’s way into the crook of his neck. This is not good…

He’s not sure what they got hit with but whatever it was…well, Sidestep was most likely out of commission for this fight. The building shakes behind him, and he thinks he might have to change positions again but Charge quickly rounds the corner taking position beside him.

They look worriedly at Sidestep, “What’s wrong? How hurt are they?” They reach out to help take Sidestep but they bat away Ortega’s hand.

Sidestep let’s out another giggle, “Got hit with the good shit,” they pause a moment tilting their head face unreadable behind the mask, “Steel… why are you always grumpy?”

“The good shit?”

“I’m not grumpy.”

Ortega gives him a disbelieving look and Steel glares back at them.

Sidestep giggles harder and pat’s Steels chest in sympathy, “Ortega he doesn’t know he’s grumpy…”

Ortega chuckles reaching out again and Steel sets Sidestep down letting them lean into Ortega. “Yeah, he can be pretty grumpy,” Steel eyes narrow on Ortega, “ however, that’s not important right now. What exactly did you get hit with?”

Sidestep falls into Ortega as Steel let’s go, “My legs don’t work…” they mumble into Ortega, as Ortega tries to help them stay standing. Sidestep takes a moment trying to gather their thoughts but it feels so hard to think, to know who it is they’re supposed to be.

Steel sighs and looks around the corner nodding his head towards Anathema whose finally showed up. “You should get them out of here,” he turns back towards Ortega, “Anathema and I can handle this.”

Ortega’s arm tightens around Sidestep’s waist they’re arm slung around Ortega’s shoulder and head lolling forward.

“Got it, if anything happens to contact me immediately. As soon as Sidestep is safe I’ll be back,” they nod their head Steel responding with his own before he disappears back onto the streets.

“Alright let’s get you out of here,” Ortega readjusts their grip and starts dragging Sidestep down the alley. They try to keep step but can’t seem to find the strength to match Ortega’s steps.

The good mood is gone, no laughs or giggles just the sound of battle and shaking buildings. Unwanted thoughts making themselves loudly known, “Why do you care about something that’s not real?”

Ortega glances at them, confusion clear on their face. “What’s that supposed to mean?” They let out a small laugh.

Sidestep’s quiet, they stop talking and Ortega might have been more worried about this but they don’t seem to have fallen unconscious.

“Steel’s ass is fucking great.”

Ortega sputters in response and Sidestep let’s out a loud laugh.

“Man when they take this asshole down find out what I got shot with.”

“I’m not helping you get drugs,” Ortega looks disapprovingly at them but they just shrug their shoulders in response.

“I never said _**I**_ was going to use it,” they laugh.

“I’m also not helping you drug the asshole who drugged you,” Ortega says unbelievably, Sidestep knows they’d definitely help… they’d probably help… what were they talking about again?

They lean closer, it’s easier to think but it’s also still incredibly hard. Words still wanting to fall out.

“You’re ass is great too.”


	17. Steel and n!MC more dogs!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: I'd like a Steel and MC friendship one for Fallen Hero, if that's possible! :) From Steel's POV! Where he and the MC meet at the dog park, MC finds an abandoned dog which instantly takes a liking to them (and Spoon), and the MC decides to adopt it and name it Fork!
> 
> -Fallen hero; Steel and mc friendship; 2nd perspective Steel; doggies  
> I hope you like it!!! (Yay more Spoon! If no ones been able to tell yet I love animals!)  
> Warning: small mention of animal injury but no violence against the animal.

 

It’s strange how this relationship? Friendship? developed. You lean back against a tree watching as Sidestep grabs the toy from Spoon, then tosses it a distance away with Spoon happily chasing after it.

Their smile is the brightest you’ve ever seen it and you wonder what you missed out on all those years ago. You wonder if you had treated them differently if you’d tried to trust them if maybe things would be different. Maybe they wouldn’t occasionally look as haunted as they probably feel, maybe they wouldn’t be haunted at all.

You shake your head, that’s not a road you should go down. Too little too late to change the past, all you can do is change what you do in the present.

“Hey!” Sidestep’s voice reverberates through the park and your head snaps up watching as they storm over towards a group of people who immediately scatter.

You push off the tree, jogging to catch up to Sidestep as they kneel down. As you get closer you can hear the growling.

They hold out their hand towards a large battered brown dog, blood dripping from a long gash across its face. It responds with another growl its body tensed to spring should anyone try to get closer.

“I’m not sure-”

“Shush,” Sidestep responds barely eyeing you over their shoulder. They keep still keeping their hand steady, the dog slowly moves forward sniffing their hand and then letting out a whimper as it headbutts into Sidestep’s chest. Sidestep quickly envelopes it in a hug.

“See you're not as scary as they thought,” Sidestep murmurs carefully petting the dogs head. A sadness makes its way into their eyes as they look over the dog.

“There’s a vet nearby, …was that group? ” you leave the ask open-ended and placing a hand on Sidestep’s shoulders kneeling down, just barely catching Spoon as he tries to get closer to the injured dog.

“Its ok,” Sidestep nods towards Spoon and you reluctantly let go, allowing Spoon to gently lick the other dogs face and laying next to it. Sidestep look back up and shakes their head, “They were just trying to scare her off. Which way to the vet?”

“I can take you there.”

“You don’t have too.”

“That’s true,” you shrug your shoulders and move to pick up the dog only to pause, “ She’s not going to bite me, is she?” You give them a side look and they let out a laugh.

“No, she won’t.”

….

Spoon runs chasing after the thrown toy only to have a happy brown dog with a scar over her face steal it and take off with it.

“Why does it not surprise me that she takes after you,” you lean back on the bench, Sidestep sitting beside you.

They let out a laugh, “Well it’s good she learned from the best then.” They shrug their shoulders, a bright smile on their face as they watch Spoon and Fork play.

“I still can’t believe you named her that,” you sigh though your small smile betrays you.

“Well the plan is that we get Ortega to get a dog too so we can name it Knife,” they look at you with a conspiratorial look, “and have a complete set!”

You can’t help the groan that comes out or the chuckle.


	18. Steel and n!Ortega: angst Heartbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Hi there socks! Love the work- was wondering if I could request 2nd perspective Steel (with n!Ortega) for during the heartbreak incident; he’d be a really interesting perspective of everything; and it’d be especially interesting to see the 💔- oh all of the 💔💔💔
> 
> -Thank you! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying it!  
> Fallen Hero; Steel and n!Ortega; 2nd POV, angst Heartbreak  
> (I’m not crying, I swear… T-T)

It was the scream that drew you back to reality, turning back as Sidestep tries to moves past. They’re shaking and when you look past them you realize why.

Anathema lies on the stairs their face fully melted away. You try not to breathe, the smell of melted flesh burning in the air. How had you not noticed?

You close your eyes and you can hear Ortega grabbing Sidestep as they try to rush ahead. There’s no time to comfort anyone though and you turn back towards Ortega and Sidestep.

“We have to keep moving,” you hear yourself say and Sidestep is nodding their agreement.

Ortega goes to argue but thinks better of it and starts back up the stairs again.

Neither of you notices when Sidestep falls behind again.

….

Why even try? What was the point of this? Maybe it was better this way…Better for you all to die. Just like Anathema…

You shake your head, gritting your teeth as the whispers try to crawl through your skull. You can barely feel yourself move up the stairs behind Ortega.

Ortega turns, looking back at you but you're not sure if it’s you that looks back. You bring a hand up trying to rub away the headache that is forming behind your eyes.

“Steel… Wei,” a hard frown forms on their face, “Are you giving up?” They ask harshly, anger in their eyes and it knocks you back into focus.

“No,” you grit out between your teeth.

“It looks like it,” they’re glaring at you, “ you’ve got a job to do. You’re not allowed to die until it’s done.” Their words hit you hard, your hands ball into fists and you nod your head a bit too forcefully.

Their right, you can’t die yet, you have to stop this. It’s your job to stop this.

“Wait… where’s Sidestep?” Fear creeps into Ortega’s voice as they stare past you and before you can stop them, they’re moving past you back down the stairs.

“Ortega!” You follow behind as much as you can but they’re faster and they’re panicked.

They reach an open doorway and they scream, “No!” The sound of broken glass follows.

You lose sight of yourself as you try to reach them.

…

You’re not sure how to feel other than numb. The danger’s gone but so are friends. Ortega was hysterical before they’d gotten knocked unconscious. You’d tried to find… to find Sidestep’s body but all they would tell you is that they died on their way to the hospital.

It bugged you for a reason you couldn’t quite put your finger on.

As you walk towards the nearest ambulance you can hear Ortega arguing with someone. They stop when they catch your eye, looking away guilt clear on their face. The person they were arguing with leaves you both alone.

Ortega tries to look at you before giving up and focusing on their shaking hands, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t…I shouldn’t have said that shit,” they barely hold back the sob that threatens to escape.

You move to place a hand on their shoulder, “I know,” you murmur softly, your voice catches as you try to speak again, “Ortega.”

There are tears in their eyes and their hands are digging into each other. They know what you're about to say, and you’re not sure if they’ll be able to handle it.

“Don’t, please please don’t,” they’re shaking their head a sob breaking through.

“I’m sorry,” you echo their words and it hurts so much to watch as they break down. You wrap them in a hug, your shoulder wet with tears as they bury their head into it.

And if their shoulder is also a little wet, they don’t comment.


	19. Herald age 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Can I have an angsty one? I assume that the media would have fovered the Heartbeak battle in the past - so can I request a fic of Herald's reaction when he found out that Sidestep died fighting Heartbreak?
> 
> -I currently have zero knowledge on Herald’s past other than he has a brother ¯\\_(ʘ_ʘ)_/¯ (I’m assuming we’ll learn more in the next game but until then)  
> Headcannons!!! Yay!! I hope this is okay

Daniel age 17:

The whole city was in lock-down but when has that ever stopped you from getting together with your friends on the roof? The whole mood of the last few days had dampened everyone and everything and you all thought you could escape it together for just a bit.

You laugh as Allie tells you a joke her eyes crinkling a bit, she is trying so hard not to cry but there is not much you or any of your friends can do but encourage her bad jokes. Her aunt is dead and so are a lot of people; even some people you know from school who got caught up in whatever was happening.

The news kept calling the whole situation Heartbreak because that was all they could do to describe the massive amount of death that’s happened these last few days. You’re all just trying to save some bit of happiness.

Sidestep and the Rangers would stop this. You had to believe they would because if they didn’t who would?

“Oh no,” Riley glances at his phone his face paling, his hand trembles a bit.

“What’s wrong?” Allie's face completely changes, despair clearly written on it. Riley shakes his head looking at you in fear and somehow you know. You run banging the roof door open. Almost falling down the stairs as you rush into the apartment to turn on the news.

You slide onto the ground grabbing the controller from the table. The TV clicks on and fear grips you as you watch the small bulletin on the bottom of the news.

**Two Heroes risk lives to end Heartbreak more in just a bit.**

No, no no no no no no no no

The news reporter talks but you can’t hear what they say because all you can think is please don’t let it be them.

Don’t let it be your hero who you’ve looked up to for so long. They can sidestep anything, they…they can’t be…

“…We have gotten confirmation that the Ranger Anathema has passed and currently Sidesteps condition is unknown…”

No, no no no no no no no no

Please no. You can feel the tears sting your eyes your hands gripping your knees. There are hands on your shoulder but it doesn’t matter.

Sidestep’s condition is unknown…they…they could still be okay…they could still make it through this. They had to make it through this.

“Wait…”, the reporter puts a hand up focusing on the words coming to him through his earpiece, “We have just gotten confirmation that Sidestep has apparently passed in route to the nearest hospital…”

You stop listening because no…no they can’t be dead…no no no they… they were Sidestep. They were the underdog who kept going. Who saved lives and came through in the end. They can’t.. they can’t be…

Your hero can't be dead. Heroes aren’t supposed to die… Heroes are supposed too…what exactly are they supposed to do? You don’t know anymore, you don’t care anymore.

Sobs wrack your body; Allie hugs you close sobbing with you. Because in the end, no one came out of Heartbreak unscathed.


	20. Steel/n!sidestep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Dang, just read through your works and absolutely am smitten with the drugged!MC one, especially as Steel bridal carries Sidestep; could I ask for a romance prompt between the 2 where Steel has to carry Sidestep somewhere (meanwhile Ortega and co. are just trying to get those 2 to recognise their feelings). 2nd perspective for either n!MC or Steel, any perspective you feel comfortable doing! Before heartbreak or after is fine too. Gracias amigo!
> 
> \- You’re welcome!! I’m so glad your enjoying my writing!!! :D  
> Fallen hero; Steel/n!sidestep; 2nd perspective; Steel carrying sidestep and not admitting feelings lol

You’re not sure how this started or how you’d gotten involved while in civilian clothes. But here you were clutching your fucked up leg, waiting around for the Rangers to get their heads out of their asses long enough to actually do something.

Shots keep firing into the diner you’re hidden in and the temptation to just take control of one of these assholes is growing stronger by the minute. Maybe you should just sneak out the back and hope to fuck that the Rangers don’t spot you. But when have you ever been lucky?

Steel crashes through the doorway of the diner, trying to take cover as another round of bullets lets loose. He quickly looks toward you, before glancing back out of the doorway. It takes him a moment to do a double take but eventually he looks back at you confused. He rushes over to your side and you can feel the concern coming off him in waves.

“Can you move?” Steel kneels beside you, he reaches out towards your injured leg, but quickly pulls back as you level a glare at him.

“Does it look like I can fucking move Steel?” Your irritated and angry at yourself for getting injured in the first place. He frowns at you and seems to think something over. Before you can figure out his intentions you find yourself lifted into his arms, letting out a yelp of pain. Definitely pain and not surprise…

You wrap your arms around his neck and try to convey that you are not amused by this. “Really?”

He unconsciously grips you tight against the chest of his suit and you’re tempted to complain about it but think better about it.

“How much blood have you lost?” He asks moving quickly towards the back of the diner.

You shrug your shoulders leaning your head into his neck, “Honestly not sure but obviously not enough to kill me… this brings back memories, ” you murmur and let out a breathless laugh.

He glances down at you worriedly as he cracks open the back door of the diner, you just shrug again. “What are you talking about?”

“Oh come on there were a couple times you saved my ass by carrying me around bridal style, ” you shake your head a fond smile on your face, “like the time I got hit with the good shit.”

He lets out his own laugh, “I’m surprised you even remember that.” He moves quickly down the alley the sound of gunshots still behind you pelting into the empty diner.

“Eeehh, mostly, "you’re not exactly tired, but you lean closer to Chen listening as he breathes even out as he slows his pace a bit. You’d be lying if you didn’t mind being carried around by Chen. Fuck, wait no mind do not go down that path. You push away slightly with your hands, this is not the time to get comfortable nor the time to get familiar.

"Steel!” Ortega shouts from the other direction of the alley and Steel turns to face Ortega and You are definitely not blushing. Fucking hell.

It’s not just Ortega either, oh no Herald and Argent were also here to witness Steel carry you around like a damsel or something in distress.

Fuuuccckkkk

Luckily Ortega and Herald go straight to worry, simultaneously reacting.

“What happened?”

“Are you okay?”

Argent to her credit doesn’t roll her eyes as they fret over you, no she just narrows her eyes on you as a slow smirk spreads across her face. Which is probably worse.

“Alright, first of all, I’m fine just get me to some medical supplies. Secondly, I got fucking shot by a bunch of idiots who I fucking hope are taken care of, ” you level a stare with them and Ortega’s smile says more than his words ever could.

“Argent draw the gunman’s fire, Ortega and Herald you two run guerilla tactics and take them down one at a time, ” you look up at Steel surprised; you had honestly forgotten he was in charge… actually, now that you think about it he’s just as fucking bad as Ortega running in fucking alone. What the fuck is he thinking?

Ortega’s brow furrows in confusion looking between you and Steel. He opens his mouth about to say something but Argent slaps him hard on the back.

“Alright, come on let’s let the happy couple have some time to themselves.”

“What?!” Four of you look at her like she’s grown a third head. Wait…

“Why the fuck are you two saying what?” You glare at Herald and Ortega. “Ortega, you don’t get a say in my life and Herald what the fuck?”

Steel seems to stiffen the more you talk, you swear you can almost feel him repeating shut up in his head multiple times.

Argent nudges an offended Ortega and nods towards us, “Steel’s blushing.”

“I am not.”

“So’s Sidestep, ” her grin is sharp but you feel like her intention is to tease more than to be aggravating… Barely

“No I’m fucking not, ” you respond but you can feel the heat rising over your face.

“Oh my God you’re right, ” Ortega is now grinning.

“There are fucking people being shot, go deal with that.”

Ortega slaps Herald’s shoulder, “Argent’s right lets leave the happy couple be.”

“We are not a couple!” You both yell.


	21. Steel & n!MC Scars (Spoilers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -Anon: (I have no idea if my prompt went through, it was one asking for second perspective Steel with him seeing present day neutral Sidestep’s ‘scars’ 💔?)
> 
> -Fallen hero; Steel and n!sidestep; 2nd perspective, angst; scars  
> Trying a bit different technique for (unwanted) inner thoughts, if people have trouble reading I can switch it back to italics.  
> SPOILERS!!!

After everything that’s happened, you don’t know how to feel about Sidestep being pushed on you. They couldn’t be left alone, couldn’t be trusted and they’re still heavily injured from protecting the Rangers.  Why they would risk themself for their supposed enemy you’re not sure. It makes you ask yourself questions you’d rather not know the answer too.

 It’s easier to think that you’ve been right all along; it’s easier to think that what happened to them was just an excuse for them to be what you expected. ~~But there’s always more to it than that.~~

 When you open the door to their room you pause, their bareback is facing you, scars ~~so many scars~~ and bright orange tattoos the swirl around their skin ~~you know those tattoos… no, you know those brands~~. They tense as they hear you come in, quickly trying to put their shirt back on only to cry out in pain. Bending forward gripping their stomach wound, falling to their knees.

 You can feel your stomach drop as you watch them panicking still trying to get the shirt on despite the pain. You walk forward and they curl more into themselves as if afraid you’ll take the chance to hurt them, ~~haven’t you already~~. You kneel beside them, their face is one of absolute terror, staring forward afraid to meet your eyes.

 “Let me help,” you say it softly ~~why does it feel like more than one meaning when you say it~~. They look at you, so broken and on the verge of tears. ~~This is the villain you and the Rangers have fought~~ before you is someone so wrecked and scarred by what’s been done to them. Someone who has reason to lash out, to be afraid.

 They grit their teeth and look away, their body lets out another shudder. “Just do it fast.”

 You hold out your hand, they shake as they hand you the shirt ~~scars across their wrists, how many more of them are purposeful~~. They lift they’re arms above their head wincing in pain as you help them pull on the long sleeved shirt. They let out a shaky breath as you finish, scooting back as far from you as they can. You sit back, watching as they pull their knees into their chest.  

“Does Ortega know,” you can’t help but ask, ~~if Ortega did do you really think they would have left them alone.~~

 They look up glaring at you. “No.” it’s said sharply and their head turns and they rest it on their knees “They don’t need to know…I… don’t want them to know.”

 “So you’re…?” You can’t say it, it opens up a door you didn’t think existed. It leaves you with thoughts of how broken they really are. What they can’t tell you or anyone. ~~That they have every reason to be who they are now.~~

 “I don’t want to talk about it.” A finality to their voice, no room given to argue against it. You could push, ~~You could make them~~ but would that really get you anywhere?

 All your left is with is the silence between you and Sidestep. Left with more questions than answers.


	22. Fallen Hero "Utopia" AU

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> -Anon:Could I ask for a friendship prompt with (seeing as you did an AU fic) n!Sidestep and n!Ortega/the present day team, an AU where Sidestep never fell? Sort of a utopia AU. 2nd or 3rd perspective please. Thank yiu!
> 
> -Turned more into shenagins than utopia whoops  
> Fallen hero; n!sidestep and team Au; friendship; 2nd perspective

“Marshal, move your fucking ass!” You yell dodging the punch aimed at your face. You can hear Ortega cursing behind you but that doesn’t help your current situation.

“You will kneel before me!” Holy fuck this dude is full of himself. He’s also trying to mess with your head, big mistake for him.

The Heartbreak incident changed you, at first for the worse but after Ortega’s nonstop nagging they finally convinced you to go to therapy. Which ended up helping you control your enhanced abilities.

For example, closing your shields down hard enough that it hurts the fucker who was meddling someplace he shouldn’t. It’s like sticking your finger into an aggressive dog’s mouth, you’re never getting that piece back.

He screams, stepping backward and gripping his head. You hope that fucking hurt. Paybacks a bitch and after what he tried to do to Argent he deserves every bit of payback. He recovers faster than you expect, though, coming at you full force.

You try to defend but the onslaught is hard to keep up with. You kick out trying to unbalance him, but he grabs your leg flipping you onto your back. Shit…oh nevermind… you let out a laugh. This dude is fucked.

He places his foot on your chest, pushing down, “Have you finally realized your defeat and subjugation is inevitable?”

You laugh again, “No, just imagining you as a splat against the wall.”

“Wha-”

A silvery force slams into him.. And through several walls. Damn, that’s even better than you imagined.

Ortega jogs up to your side reaching out to help you up. “You okay?” They ask a hint of worry in their voice but it’s well hidden behind their smile.

“I’m fine,” you dust the debris off your suit as you stand. “He, however, is not, ” you look at the broken wall that leads into an apartment building.

“Yeah…” they sigh as they pinch the bridge of their nose, “this is going to be another PR nightmare…”

You shrug, “Yeah but you gotta admit she’s pretty fucking awesome.”

They give you an exasperated look, “You’re only saying that because you somehow convince her to do stupid stunts with you.”

“Ahh, ” you lightly punch their shoulder, “Are you jealous I don’t do stupid stunts with you anymore?” They pout at you, and you can’t help but chuckle at them.

“Um, guys? Where’s the bad guy?” Herald hovers a bit above the both of you. He’s a fairly new addition, who seems to be a huge fan of yours. Every time you’ve meet, whether your visiting the Rangers or run into each other on the streets, he’s got a weird look on his face. You’re not sure how to feel about it.

You point your thumb into the building, “In there, Argent’s trying to tear out his spine.”

Ortega looks at you scandalized, “Fuc- Goddamnit you were distracting me.” They make no move to actually check to see if Argent is actually doing that, they just cross their arms glaring at you with no heat.

“Damn, here I thought we were going to get away with it but you’ve mused out the truth, ” you hold a hand up to your chest like your impressed with their observational skills. “There is certainly a reason why you’re still the Marshal.”

They smile as they shake their head, “You’re such a smartass.”

“I did learn from the best.”

“Umm, I think Argent’s trying to kidnap him…” Herald comments as he peers into the building. He looks back worriedly at Ortega. Who in turn actually glares at you.

“What are you two planning?”

“Argent! Hurry the fuck up they figured it out!” You yell and quickly run in a different direction.

“Wait-Shit. Argent put him down! Sidestep get your ass back here!”


	23. Argent/Sidestep more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Could you write some romance between M!Sidestep as civilian and Lady Argent?
> 
> -I believe this is the same person who wanted aggressive flirting/ not flirting? I honestly don’t know for sure.
> 
> Fallen Hero rebirth;Argent/sidestep; 2nd perspective;
> 
> Also I have no fucking clue how to flirt and I think that transmitted to sidestep.

You let your curiosity get the better of you, you remember Ortega mentioning that Argent is good with tech you just never expected to see it. A slight frown tugs at her lips as she concentrates on the device before her.

You wonder what she sees, you remember her vision being so different from your own. You bet she could see connections no one else could and she’d know exactly how to work it to her advantage.

After all, it’s not just her strength and claws that make her a threat, but her intelligence as well. She’s willing to put hours into studying your villain persona, planning and adapting to be what she needs to be.

Goddamnit, it, you can’t help but be flattered by it…but you really shouldn’t be turned on by it too.

“Why are you hovering?” She mutters to you not bothering to even look in your direction.

“Well, I was going to ask what you’re working on,” you shrug your shoulders and move to lean on the table, “but I found myself frozen by beauty.”

She snorts, setting down her tools, her silvery face turns and you find yourself looking at both her and your reflection. “And damn if I don’t look good.”

She laughs, actually laughs…you did not expect that.

“Think highly of yourself don’t you?”

You hand covers your mouth as you gasp, “What! No, never.” You shake your head but fail to keep the smile off your face. “So what are you working on? And would you rather work on something else instead.” You wink as she glares at you. You haven’t yet annoyed her past the point of no return but it’s always a fun challenge to try.

“I’m working on something that’s none of your business…honey, ” she says the last word with enough bite you might want to check if you lost any pieces.

Damn that…is actually really hot. Fuck

“Really? And you’re definitely not missing a semiconductor?” You raise an eyebrow to go with your smug grin. Her eyes narrow on you, still trying so hard to be the predator she wants you to fear. But you’ve faced things much scarier, and you refuse to be timid prey.

She stands and you almost think she’s going to attack you again, instead she sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose, “It’s not just the semiconductor…Ortega said your good with tech, ” she studies you carefully, “There’s another piece missing or at the very least something is not connecting right.”

“Want me to look at it?” You ask because why not? It’ll let you get a closer look at what she’s working on.

She hesitates, frowning at you, “Fine.” She shrugs her shoulders trying to appear casual but you can feel the tension she’s putting out. She doesn’t want anyone to know what this really is…intresting. You’ll have to play down your abilities then. Don’t want to give away too much.

You smile and take her seat as she moves to hover behind you. Wow, this is actually a piece of shit tech. “You do realize there are better models than this right?” You ask, grabbing the tech and carefully studying it.

“I’m aware, ” she says, you can almost feel her eyes boring into you.

“Alright then, ” you mumble as you grab a screwdriver to take a bit more of it apart. “You know I could also take apa-”

“If you say what I think you’re about to say not even Ortega will recognize you.”

“That’s fair.”

“However, ” she leans close, her head near your ear, “You might have better luck just asking…honey.” It’s still got that same bite to it.

Fuck…things are going to get more complicated.


	24. Herald & f!Sidestep Hero in action

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Oh! I got one! Herald and n! (or f! As i know you wanted to do more female characters practice) Sidestep, with Herald seeing present day Sidestep show a bit of their old hero self during a crisis and going ‘yep- that’s my hero! I’m fighting alongside my hero!’ (Cos he was a happy boi when Sidestep agreed to train him and stuff, He is a good boy and deserves lots of joy). 2nd perspective Herald with 💜!
> 
> -I went ahead and wrote a female Sidestep for this because I’ve gotten several requests for a male sidestep and I want to keep it a bit more even.  
> (CB is just a placeholder for sidesteps usual name.)  
> Fallen Hero ; Herald and n!orf!sidestep; 2nd perspective; Herald gets to see Sidestep be a hero

You can’t help but feel overwhelmingly happy as you look at Sidestep, she has her arms crossed as she walks beside you. She agreed to go out to lunch with you and this was a chance to really get to know her, to finally see who exactly Sidestep is.

She glances at you a frown forming on her face as she quickly looks away, “Stop that.”

“Stop what?” you ask confused.

“Smiling like that,” she scowls ahead of her.

“Oh, um…” you rub the back of your neck trying to force your smile away. It’s more difficult than anticipated, “Sorry, I’m just really excited to get to know you.”

She sighs and stopping to face you with a guilty look, “No…shit,” she curses as she matches your awkwardness, “I should be the one who’s sorry…I’m just not used to,” she motions her hand to all of you and shrugs.

You’re not sure how to respond to that and before you can an explosion rocks the ground. You both turn towards the billowing smoke as screams ring through the air. “I’ll-” you turn to say that you’ll go on ahead but she’s already taken off pulling her scarf around her face and pulling up the hood of her jacket.

You know right now it’s important to focus on saving people but you can’t help but feel absolute excitement. You’re going to see Sidestep in action.

There’s no time to change into your outfit, so you move fast flying towards Sidestep and picking her up, murmuring sorry as she let’s out a yelp.

“Shit, you are so fucking lucky I can’t kick your ass right now, ” she grumbles as her arms wind around your neck, holding on tightly. You feel a bit guilty, you know she doesn’t like flying but you need to move fast.

You move, heading straight towards the explosion as people run away from it beneath you.

….

You’re trying to get people out but it’s harder to move in the rubble-strewn building than you had anticipated. Sidestep though… she’s amazing. She moves fast through the spaces helping people out of the debris, handing them over to you to fly to a safer space a little ways away.

She’s helping a young boy towards you as you wait at the entrance when a smaller explosion blasts behind them.

“Fuck!” She picks him and sprints towards you just as a chunk of building collapses where they were. “Herald get away from the building!”

“CB!” You cry out as dust rises around her and you lose sight of her and the boy. You stumble backward as dust and debris rush out towards you.

A woman next to you starts to rush forward, crying out in another language, you barely have time to stop her as the building fully collapses. Fear strikes through you. No no no, not again…

A shrouded force bursts through the last bit of rubble, covered in dust holding tightly to a smaller form, the woman breaks free of your hold rushing forward. You look on in awe as you watch Sidestep speak quietly to the woman as she hands the boy over.

She looks every bit of the hero you remember from television as she finally looks at you as the woman runs off. And then she’s running leaving you, a crowd of people and a destroyed building behind.

You can’t stop the smile that makes it’s way to your face.

…

“Stop that.” She’s looking at you annoyed as she tapes her hands, readying herself for another training session.

“Stop what?” You can’t keep the grin off your face as you watch her roll her eyes.

“It was a one-time thing, ” she says but you’re still left unconvinced.

“Sure, ” you say with a shrug your smile never leaving your face. She sighs and looks at you exasperated, but nothing can ruin your mood, because Sidestep will always be a hero. She’ll always be your hero.


	25. Steel & n!MC Before Scars (Team Rescue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheion-writes: I love your 'Steel discovers MC's scars' fic! And now I'm curious what the backstory is... What did the MC do to protect the Rangers, ending up injured themselves? A Steel perspective will be great! :) (Or a sidestep one will work too! I just want more guilty!Steel...)
> 
> -Alright, so this is more a base idea of what I had in mind for what happened because if I tried to actually write it, it’d end up being way past my personal set word limit. (It’s already slightly past said word limit XD)  
> Fallen Hero; Steel and n!Mc before scar prompt; 2nd perspective

 You honestly couldn’t believe how stupid Ortega was, going in alone against Hollow Ground. What were they thinking? You know the answer to that though, don’t you? They weren’t.

 Now you and the other Rangers have to stage a rescue, you hope you can get there in time… you hope you can save them.  You look over at Argent who cracks her neck glaring at the building ahead of you all, “You’re sure they’re here?”

 “Yes,” she grits out through her teeth, anger radiating off her, “Let’s go save our idiot.” She begins to walk forward, but you stop her with a firm hand on her shoulder. Her glare turns to you, a spike of fear runs through you but you quickly squash it. Now isn’t the time for distrust.

 “We need to be sure Argent, If we’re wrong-“

 “You mean, if I’m wrong,” she snaps, “I know the risks Steel, I’m not stupid.”

 Herald stands awkwardly behind you both, unsure what to really say. He’s probably just as antsy as Argent, both of them are too impatient for your tastes. You should be used to it though, considering you’ve worked with Ortega and Sidestep.

 “Are you all just going to stand here awkwardly fighting each other? Because if you are could you take a few steps back?” A growling distorted voice asks, and the response is immediate Argent turns lunging towards Revelation who easily dodges her attack. “Now, now I’m not here to fight **you** ,” they cock their head to the side, “At least, not today anyway.”

 “What do you want-” you try to ask only to be cut off by Argent.

 “How about we switch it to me kicking your ass today and not later,” her anger has morphed into something else. God damn it, you don’t have time for this. Ortega does not have time for this.

 “As fun as that sounds, I think you have a more pressing matter,” they point to the building, “Also, again you may want to take a couple steps back.”

 Herald puffs out his chest, anger clear on his face as he steps up to Revelation, “You’re a Villain why shoul-“

Revelation moves fast pushing him behind them, and then moves to grab you, tossing you into Herald as an explosion erupts out of the side of the building. You hurt a grunt of pain as the debris hit Revelation, but they show no other sign of being hurt as they brush off the dust. “See this is why you people need to work on communication,” they give an exasperated sigh, “Now excuse me, I have to go save a dumbass.” They wave as they walk into the explosively made entrance.  

 Your eyes narrow on their retreating form. It couldn’t be…

 “Wait did they just say save?” Herald watches them bewildered.

 “I knew it,” Argent growls as she runs past to follow them.  You grit your teeth because you don’t know what’s worse; that you might have been right all along and ignored your feelings or that if what you’re thinking is wrong and that you’re putting blame on them without evidence again.

 “Come on,” You order Herald and you both rush in trying to catch up.

 …..

 By the time you find Ortega the whole building is on alert and it’s been a nonstop fight to them. Revelation kicks in the heavily barred door, cracking it in half, revealing a beaten and shaken Ortega to you all.

 “What?” they’re eyes are wide looking between Revelation and you. “What the fun-“

 “No time,” Revelation growls, turning to face more opponents as they run down the hall towards you all. Their head tilts slightly in your direction, “Get them out of here and then get out of my way.” Then they’re halfway down the hall, their fist planting itself into a guy’s face.

 You don’t hesitate to move to lift Ortega as Herald helps, “Wait.. wasn’t that?” They look between the both of you confused.

 “We’ll talk about it later,” Argent gives them a look before watching the battle ahead of her carefully. Ortega swallows thickly; if you were paying close attention you might have noticed that they look almost guilty.

 “Let’s move.”

…

 You’re almost out of the building when a blunt force hits you hard enough to let go of Ortega and stumble forward. Herald let’s out a yelp and ends up grabbing Ortega flying ahead of you with Ortega letting out a grunt of pain.

 You turn facing a heavily moded man who’s wielding a sharp piece of rebar, grinning at you menacingly. Argent’s further behind struggling with a group of people, who seem to be pissing her off more than hurting her but it seems they were more for distraction anyway.

 “Herald get Ortega out of here,” you say as your hands tighten into fists, you’re out of weapons but you can take him.

 “Alright!”

 “Fuck no!” You can feel Ortega’s glare at the back of your head but it doesn’t matter. The mod moves to try to skewer you and with the force, he’s put behind it you might not be strong enough to stop him.  A force blocks your view letting out a half distorted and half real scream. A scream that echoes in your head and causes your blood to run cold.

 The mods eyes widen in fear as he realizes just who is on the end of the rebar. “Big mistake fuck head,” they grit out before pulling the rebar out and ripping it from his grip using it as a bat to swing into his face. He goes down and Revelation is left breathing heavily over his downed body.

 They turn slightly and your meet with a broken mask and a familiar set of eyes.


	26. Sidestep Nightmares are Real (Spoilers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: I have a 💔/💜 one for you, n!Sidestep in 2nd dreaming of Steel and/or Ortega (and/or Anathema) rescuing them from the Farm. Can be at the time during the after-Heartbreak years or present day; dream can end happy or angsty, I leave it in your super capable creative hands! 
> 
> -I want you to know that I have been so looking forward to writing this and it accidentally turned into full-on angst.  
> Spoilers Below!!  
> Fallen Hero ; Nightmares are Real

The room has a coldness to it that makes you shudder. You don’t want to be here, why couldn’t the fall have just killed you. But no, you had to live, you had to fall back into their hands, you had to suffer for your disobedience. No good deed goes unpunished.

You let out a whimper bringing your knees up to your chest. Stupid. You should know better not to show weakness, but at this point, you wonder why you should care. All that you have left is the pain in your body and the shattered fragments of your mind.

It’s been the only good point of this because everyone who has tried to get into your head has their own mind torn to shreds. It might be petty to feel joy over hurting them, but it’s the only satisfaction you’ll find here. It’s the only peace you’ll get for the time being.

The door to your cell creaks open and you can’t suppress the next shudder that runs through your body. Without looking you know it’s them, you know they’re here to try to break you back into obedience. They’ve broken so much of you already.

You wait for them to speak, minutes passing as only silence echoes. You can’t stand it, why don’t they act? You find yourself struggling to look up but when you finally do you find the door open but no one there. Another trick, another test.

But then the alarm starts blaring, you cover your ears gritting your teeth and bringing your head back to your knees as it echoes in your head.

“CB!”

No…nonono it can’t be

You look back towards the door and… Anathema?

“No nononono, ” are you crying?

They move towards you but you can’t help but back away in absolute terror. They’re dead, the dead don’t get to come back to life.

“It’s okay CB. It’s me, we’re here to rescue you, ” they say softly hands held out in a pacifying manner.

“You’re dead, ” you manage to choke out through heavy sobs.

They shake their head, “No…that was Heartbreak fucking with everyone’s heads. I’m alive CB, the Rangers and I are here to rescue you.” They calmly hold out a hand to you, and it’s so fucking hard to think. Everything is a ringing echo of the alarm.

You reach out a shaky hand and they grab hold of it firmly. A solid force holding your hand, a living force. “How?”

“Steel thought it was suspicious that an ambulance was just waiting around in the hill zone and between him and Ortega, ” they shrug their shoulders, “We found you.”

Their grip is still so tight, but it’s wrong…why is it wrong? “Where are the others?” Your trembling again, echo’s ringing, so much ringing.

“They’re waiting just past the door, ” they smile as they point to the closed door behind them. Was it closed?

“No, ” you shake your head trying to get free of Anathema’s grip, “Please no. You don’t know what’s behind it.” Wrong, this is wrong. Don’t open the door. Don’t let them out.

“CB, we need to get you out of here, ” they say with concern, nails digging into your arm.

“You’re not real, ” the pain is though.

“I’m right here CB.”

“You’re lying, ” because Ortega would have told you, they would have told you Anathema was alright. They wouldn’t have let you pass without you knowing that it wasn’t real. Because Ortega would know. Because Ortega was immune.

Anathema starts to drag you towards the door, you try so hard to fight them, to warn them. Don’t open the door, you won’t like what’s behind it.

“Please, please, please.” You’re sobbing trying to dig your bare feet into the ground but nothing’s working. Don’t don’t don’t

They grab the door handle, you’re still firmly in their grip. They open it…

….

The regen standing by the unconscious cuckoo lets out a scream. It grips its head its face contorted in pain before it looks towards the observational window. It runs straight for it slamming its head into the glass a crazed look upon its face as it repeatedly slams its head into the window. Blood smears across the window, and the people behind it worry that it’ll crack through the glass.

“Flood the room, ” a voice commands and the room quickly fills with gas. The regen slowly begins to stop, face sliding down the glass leaving a trail of blood.

The owner of the commanding voice studies the cuckoo who still lies unconscious and strapped down, a faint trail of tears running down its face.

“Get that one out and bring in another. Continue the experiment.” They say before turning to leave, unaware of the cuckoo whose hand twitches.


	27. Sidestep and Anathema; Milkshakes and Tarot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon prompt for Anathema and Sidestep shenagins
> 
> -(I ended up doing random word prompts to get this started and got Milkshake and Tarot for this)  
> Fallen Hero; Anathema and Sidestep; 2nd perspective

Milkshake:

 “So, what exactly is this?” You ask as you carefully eye the drink Anathema has placed before you. It’s a slightly pinkish red color, a white whipping cream over the top with several cherries and is in a fancy cup. It looks way too expensive, you feel a frown tug at your face. It’s one thing to get stuff from Ortega, you know Ortega likes to show off how much money they have. Anathema is different though… 

“Stop with that look,” they point a spoon at you a small smile on their face, “It’s not poisonous, I promise. It’s just a strawberry milkshake.” The dip their spoon in taking a bite, savoring every bit of it.

Reluctantly, you pick up your own spoon and plunge it into the thick mixture, and as you taste it you understand. “Holy fuck! This is amazing!”

“Told you you’d like it,” Anathema has a smug grin and you don’t bother to retort as you begin to devour it. They let out a laugh, “Careful you might get a brain freeze.”

“Fuck, ” you grip your head as pain shoots through it.

“I told you so.”

Tarot:

Anathema is running towards you and you’re honestly tempted to run the other direction, especially considering the grin on their face. You force yourself not to flinch back as they stop in front of you, “I have a great idea. Hold out your hand.”

“Ok?” As you begin to hold out your hand they slap a deck of cards into. “Ummm?”

“They’re tarot cards!” They watch you with anticipation that quickly turns to disappointment when your reaction is just more confusion. They let out a long sigh, “You can use these to give out readings and make money.”

The mention of money makes you perk up, “I’m listening.”

…

You flip the cards, studying them carefully, the woman before you standing patiently at your makeshift table.

“In the past, there was a man in your life who guided you with patience and guidance, and though he’s passed on his spirit now guides you on a journey of your own self-discovery.” She nods her head subtly and you can feel the clicking of connections in her head, honestly even though Anathema had suggested using your telepathy you probably don’t need too. The cards seem to do all the work.

“However, you should proceed carefully. Don’t rush into things or you may lose sight of what you wish to find,” you finish, a little bit anxious. It can be a bit hard to tell how someone will take the advice until they actually hear it.

She nods her head again, “Thank you…I think I needed to hear that.” You finish up, and she gives you a nice tip before she leaves.

“So what do you think?” Anathema asks, leaning next to you against a brick wall.

“I don’t know, ” you shrug your shoulders, “Definitely better than other options.”

They smile at you, but then they look past you and roll their eyes.

“So what do we have here?” Ortega smirks at the two of you, briefly glancing at your made up table and cards.

“Nothing, ” you both say simultaneously with a shrug.

“Really? Not even going to offer me a reading?”

You snort in response and quickly shuffle the cards than lay out three. “Hmmm, it says here that…you’re a self-confident idiot-”

Anathema jumps in beside you pointing to the middle card, “That one means your lucky to be alive, considering your recklessness.”

“And this last one means your going to need all that luck to continue being a pain in the ass.”

Ortega pouts as you both laugh.


	28. Utiopia Au Steel fluff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Wow Utopia AU is Awesome! Kinda wonder where Steel was bless. He missed out on the action. One thing I do wonder in this AU is if Sidestep and Steel would have sorted out their differences and maybe progressed to super friends (or even more) if they hadn’t fallen, in fact... may I get a fluff❤️/💜 for this sort of thing please? 3rd perspective or 2nd of character of your choice. Cheers!
> 
> -Here’s why Steel missed out ;)  
> (I wasn’t fully sure if you wanted more friends or romance so this ended more towards romance I hope that’s ok.)  
> Fallen Hero ; Steel/Sidestep; Fluff Au 2nd perspective

“Going somewhere?” You ask with a smirk as you lean against the closed door. You watch Chen huff out a laugh as he adjusts a bit of his armor before he stops to look at you with a small frown.

“I know you two are up to something,” he comments and you can’t help but try your best to look at him confused, “ and I know better than to be around when you’ve got something in your heads.”

You shrug your shoulders in response, “Why, whatever do you mean Wei?” You try to hold back the laugh but the look he gives is too funny not to.

You stop a moment though, a frown tugging on your face, “So instead of helping your team, you’re going off on your own?” Because of me?

“I am responding to a call for help up north, ” he says softly noticing the droop of your head as you slightly look away. “Someone needed to go, and I’m the best equipped.” He stands moving closer to you and you find your arms crossing defensively.

After Heartbreak everyone changed; you, Ortega…Steel. All of you are different now and your not sure how to feel about that. Especially Chen…his distrust is still there, small almost unnoticeable; he’s done his best to give you and others the benefit of the doubt especially now that they all know the truth.

You guess it was an inevitability, especially when your bound to get hurt worse than what you can take care of. One fight that ended with you in an emergency room, the Farm finding out and taking you, then Ortega and Steel staging a rescue. And now your here.

Your not sure though the what kind of distrust it is that Chen has though. Is he afraid of what else you may have hidden or is he afraid that you’ll be taken again and they may not find you again? It’s so hard to tell with him and you can admittedly tell a lot of things about him since you’ve grown closer over the years.

You’re not sure how to feel about those other things, the way you sometimes catch him looking at you. The way you catch yourself looking back. It could be more if either of you really wanted to acknowledge it or if you weren’t afraid to acknowledge it.

He’s standing in front of you and your still not sure what to feel. You don’t want him abandoning his team because of you… you don’t want to be the reason he wants to leave.

His bare hand reaches out softly cupping your check and you almost jump back in response, your eyes widen as you stare at him shocked.

“Why do you do this to me?” He murmurs as he stares into your eyes. Studying your expression, you can almost feel his mind weighing his options.

Your eyebrows furrow and your response feels breathless, “Do what?” You’re both leaning closer and you’re not fully sure if it’s just you panicking or if it’s both of you.

It’s about then that you realize leaning against a door that can be freely opened is an incredibly bad idea when Ortega is in the building.

“Hey, Stee- shit!”

“Fucki-” you feel yourself fall back as the door is yanked open behind you, Chen barely has time to firmly grip your shoulder to keep you from crashing into Ortega. You grip his arm in response and you can feel a blush start to spread across your face.

You decidedly stare ahead, into Chen’s chest refusing to meet Ortega’s stare.

“Am I disturbing something?” You can almost hear the smirk in their voice.

“Nope, ” you turn moving out of Chen’s grasp and barging past Ortega, not even sparing them a glance. “Steel was just leaving.” You wish your heart would stop pounding.


	29. Steel & Sidestep Catch part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: May I plz request ❤️/💜 with Steel getting seriously pissed off again/ protective of n!Sidestep (can be if a villain decides to target themwhile they’re down specifically or another reason that you can think of, cos your work is the bomb!) Any time period and 3rd perspective?
> 
> -Alright, I decided to combine both this Ask and the next one for some extra goodness.  
> Fallen Hero ; Steel and Sidestep; 3rd perspective; Catch part 1

Sidestep sits on the top floor of an abandoned building; blood dripping from their nose, their left eye well on it’s the way to becoming swollen, and countless other bruises. They don’t know who was stupid enough to go after them but their pretty sure whoever it is has no idea who they’re fucking with. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have left Sidestep alone with only the threat of the room being set to blow if they should move.

Patience, a hard thing for Sidestep to control right now but its needed. They have no access to their suit so they’re stuck playing… hostage? That’s what they think they are. Most likely a hostage to draw the Rangers out; they let out a whispered curse.

Should have been more careful, of course, someone would take notice of they visiting the Rangers.

Steps echo through the building, but they ignore it choosing to focus on figuring a way out of this situation by themself. The floor is rigged to blow if someone gets too close or if they try to leave on their own.

Is it a pressure trigger or a sensor? Can’t say for sure but-

A heavily cloaked figure bursts into the room, trying to smoothly stride towards Sidestep but halfway through their left knee buckles. The recovery is quick but Sidestep catches it, storing the knowledge away for later. The cloaked figure pulls a knife and silently grabs Sidestep’s jacket pulling them up and placing the knife to their throat. The figure places themself clearly behind Sidestep using them as a shield between them and the open doorway.

Desperate, the cloaked figure is in bad enough need that they walked into their rigged to blow room to use Sidestep as a shield. Or maybe that was a bluff? Fucking hell, they wish they could read the cloaked figures mind. But the figure seems to have something blocking their telepathic abilities.

Was that preparation or a fluke?

The figure speaks through their helmets distorter, “Move and they die.” The empty doorway remains quiet, nothing moves, the sound of footsteps gone.

Steel can’t see in from his angle but he knows he needs to proceed carefully. Sidestep might be retired but this person kidnapping them so easily sets off warning bells. Not to mention they’re hurt and clearly dangerous, any false move could end up with Sidestep dead.

It’s a thought that turns his blood cold, the thought of losing them again, of failing them again. All of this rests on his shoulders alone.

Ortega had to be flown to emergency care, Argent is battling two giant robots that had been unleashed on the other side of town.

He’s alone and possibly the only reason Sidestep is alive right now, he could also just as easily be the reason Sidestep dies or gets hurt.

He closes his eyes resting his head against the wall behind him. Fear, regret, and a number of other emotions threatening to break loose. He grits his teeth, now is not the time.

“What are your demands?” His voice is steady, devoid of any real emotion. Revealing nothing of his inner conflict.

The figure grips Sidestep’s shoulder tightly the knife pricking into their skin. Steel’s voice echoes in Sidestep’s head, causing them to swallow the lump in their throat.

They can’t get a clear read on Steel’s mind other than it’s frantic trying to think his way out like they are. They need a plan, if they try to break free will the cloaked figure set the bomb off? Or maybe?… Could they have epilepsy? Is that why their thoughts are unreadable?

The figure prepares to speak but Sidestep is faster, “Flash!” They yell only to have the figure growl, the hand clamping down on Sidesteps shoulder shoots up to cover their mouth.

The figure growls pressing the knife slightly deeper into their throat, a line of blood begins to flow. Unfortunate but a gamble had to be made. With no suit, they’ll have to rely on Steel getting the hint and that the explosive is actually (hopefully) fully controlled by this asshole.

“Be quiet or I’ll send you through the window instead, ” the figure growls into their ear. A sense of dread floods through them, no no no no. They struggle to keep themself under control but the thought of falling again is almost too much to handle. They need to calm down, they need to wait for Steel’s signal.

Steel hesitates a moment, trying to comprehend the meaning behind Flash. There’s not a lot that comes to mind but… No… really? They can’t read the figures mind, so they’re assuming the figure has epilepsy like Ortega?

He quickly sets up the flashlights on his suit, adjusting their settings slightly. He’s so focused he almost doesn’t hear the figures growled words to Sidestep. He freezes, anger simmering into a quick boil. He won’t let that happen, they will not fall again.

“CB… I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” he says loudly for both of them to hear, setting his plan into motion.

Part 2 will be in the Next Ask (and will probably switch to 2nd perspective Sidestep.)


	30. Steel & Sidestep Catch part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: How about a 💜 scenario for you of civilian!n!Sidestep needing to be saved or helping out the rangers and it leading to a moment where they need to jump off a building (and doesn’t that bring back heartbreaking memories...) leading to a “jump! I’ll catch you!” Or “I promise I won’t let you fall again!” (With either Steel or nOrtega- I love both of them even if you have made the grump srysly grow on me)
> 
> -I decided to combine this with another ask part 1 is already written up and answered! (Not exactly jumping off a building I hope that’s okay)  
> Fallen Hero ; Steel &Sidestep 2nd pov sidestep; Catch part 2

“CB… I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” you hear Steel’s voice echo down the hall and you almost let out a laugh at that thought. It’s far too late for that, he knows that but…you can feel yourself almost want to believe him. Either way, you’re sure that’s his unspoken signal to you. It’s time to act.

The masked figure hand tightens on your mouth, trying to use it to hold you in place, little do they realize the mistake they’ve made. The knife might be cutting into your neck but it’s not in the right position to kill you, only hurt, maybe maim a little… Fuck this is probably going to scar.

You move fast head going forward slightly letting the knife bite deeper before snapping your head back into a headbutt then aiming a backward kick at their injured leg. Their distorted makes their cry of pain sound worse than it probably is and you don’t take a chance, grabbing the knife from them, spinning to face their cloaked form and using the but of it too smash the shielding in front of their eyes. Blue angry eyes meet yours and they let out a feral growl.

They try to tackle you to the ground, but you jump back slipping out of reach, Steels heavy footsteps growing closer. You hope he’s fully understood what you were hinting at. Admittedly, it’s probably a shitty tactic you’re both about to do but when in a life or death situation you don’t get much of a choice.

They let out a frustrated grunt before reaching into their cloak and pulling out a… Fuck, a dead man’s switch.

“Fuck, Steel!” You yell trying to get him to move faster, as you leap forward trying to bat the switch out of their hand before they can activate it.

“Down!”

You don’t bother hesitating to drop to the ground as lights immediately begin to flash, the figure lets out a curse trying to block out the lights but ultimately fails as their body slowly stops moving, their head dropping forward slightly, their eyes continually blinking.

You rush forward yanking the switch attempting to yank the switch from them only to have them grab your hand tightly your eyes meet theirs and you hear a click.

Fear courses through you.

_**Fall** _

_Down and Down_

_~~You dont want to fall~~ _

_Pain that only you can end_

_~~Please~~ _

You feel something tighten around your waist; only it and the burning pain as the world explodes around you feel real.

_**End it** _

“CB!” It’s hazy, is it real, “Hey!” You feel hands on your face, a face covered in scratches and bruises in front of yours has a worried frown. Why would it be real?

“Focus,” it’s too hard though, your face turns looking at the rubble that surrounds you, the open sky stretches out letting you look upon the buildings below.

_~~Too high~~ _

_**Fall** _

_You ~~don’t~~ want to fall_

The hands bring your face back to stare at the other one. Breathing hurts, why is it so hard to breathe?

“Focus, look at me,” the voice is stern, you know it so well you think, “I’m getting you out of here.” He’s got an odd look on his face as he looks to the side, “We’re going to have to jump.”

**No!**

He turns to you with a sad look, did you say that out loud?

**_Fall_ **

You shake your head only succeeding in making your head spin, “I don’t want to fall.” You croak out gripping his arms tightly, pleading. Your not supposed to have fear, but right now that’s all you can feel.

“I wont let you fall.” A statement said with confidence but all it does is fill you with dread.

_You want to fall again._

He looks at you strangely and then says something unexpected, “When you fall, I’ll always be right there to catch you.”

You let out a choked laugh, resting your head onto his armored chest. It’s a promise you know he can’t keep but today you might be able to take him up on it.

He stands bringing you to your feet as he does so, and you look towards where he had looked before. No floor between you and the other side where the stairs are. You almost look down to see how much longer a drop it is but Steel lets out a stern, “Don’t.”

You look at him and roll your eyes, everything a bit clearer now, the shock must be wearing off. That could be both a good and bad thing.

“I’m going to jump, ” he looks at you and you can’t help but try to swallow the lump of fear in your throat. “Then you are.”

“What if you don’t make it?” He shots you a look, “It’s a valid question, you are pretty heavy with your armor, ” you let out a shaky laugh. Fuck this sucks.

“I’ll make it, ” he sounds more determined than you could at this moment, “and so will you.”

Before you can give a response he’s already moving, taking a running leap. You can feel your heart pounding as you watch him easily land on the other side. You let out a shaky breath as he stands tall looking back at you expectantly.

_Fall_

_It’s better for everyone_

You shake your head. Focus. You’ve got shit to do. You take in a deep breath and then you run and jump. It feels so much slower than it actually is, watching as you just barely miss the other side. Watching Steel’s face turn to absolute terror as he reaches out and grabs your arm holding it tightly.

You can’t stop the shuddering sob as he reels you back up, falling back onto more solid ground with you wrapped into his arms. You’re not sure how long you stay there, trying to pretend your not crying.


	31. Steel/Sidestep Christmas prompt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Hi there! Um seeing as Christmas is coming up I was wondering if festive prompts were okay? If they are can I have ❤️💜fluff with Steel x neutral Sidestep ending up having to go to a ball or something and ending up under the mistletoe (or winding up dancing together, or both, your call on this)? (Throw in a little angst, if this happened in the past it would be another reason Steel hated going to Balls/Galas/Events, but present day is awesome as well) 2nd perspective Steel please🎄
> 
> -Alright I got this done by Christmas, wooo!  
> Fallen Hero; Steel/Sidestep; 2nd POV steel; I set this in the past!

“No,” they say crossing their arms glaring at Ortega, who responds with an attempt at an apologetic look. You can’t help but agree with Sidestep, this is a ridiculous idea.

“We need someone who isn’t openly associated with us-”

“Ortega,” they say with an exasperated sigh.

“I promise no cameras or paparazzi,” Ortega holds up their hands trying to placate them, but it does nothing to stop their glare that shifts between Ortega and the suit Ortega holds in their hand.

“I think it’s a bad idea,” you can’t help but pitch in because it is, it’s a terrible idea and you don’t know how Ortega talked you into it. There were others who could go undercover far more easily than you could, it definitely didn’t have to be you. Ortega though seemed set on you and Sidestep going…together.

Sidestep’s glare immediately shoots to you, they snag the suit from Ortega walking off growling out a single word, “Fine.”

Ortega looks at you with a grin but you respond back with a frown, shifting in your own suit. “You shouldn’t push them into this.”

Ortega shrugs a cheeky grin on their face, “This is a good opportunity for you both. A chance to get to know each other better and for you both to relax a little.”

“I thought this was supposed to be an undercover op?” Your eyes narrow on them and they let out a nervous laugh as they slap your shoulder.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t have fun!” They start to hurry away, refusing to look you in the eyes, “I’ll go make sure CB didn’t strangle themselves on the suit.”

You let out a long sigh, tonight was going to be… something.

…..….

The private gala isn’t as loud as you had expected; quiet chatter fills the evening as Christmas music plays in the background. The whole place is beyond fancy and you can’t help but feel out of place.

Looking to your side CB shifts nervously in their suit, trying their best not to stand out, possibly using you as cover. You snort as you take a sip from your glass, “You look worse than I feel.”

They let out a nervous laugh, “I highly doubt that… We’ve also been here over an hour and there’s no sign of the target…” they look around superficially taking a sip of their own drink.

“I’m pretty sure there was no target in the first place, ” you can’t help but grumble. Ortega and Anathema both seemed set on this, refusing to give necessary details. It was too suspicious.

CB let’s out a long sigh bringing a hand to their face, “Fucking hell, that would explain why Anathema’s been avoiding me.” They set their glass on the table behind them, “I’m going to get air.”

You sigh and set your own glass down beside their’s, “That sounds like a great idea.”

They shrug in response and you follow them out onto a nearby balcony, shutting the doors behind you. CB leans against the rail closing their eyes as a cold breeze brushes past them. You hold your breath, a lump stuck in your throat as you watch them.

Something about them, a moment of fragile relief, it has you not wanting to break the moment. A stray thought makes its way into your head, what if? You quickly shake it away, refusing to let it go further.

You move and lean on the railing next to them, looking out on the city lit up by lights. Your pager beeps and you bring it out glaring at the message that was sent.

We need you both on the dance floor.

CB leans over to look at it and lets out a sound of absolute disgust.

“Tell them fuck no, ” they tilt their head contemplating something, “Actually, I say we just ditch this and don’t tell them.”

You let out a small chuckle and shake your head. When your eyes meet, you find them staring at you. Their expression unreadable before they look away coughing into their hand.

“You should laugh more, ” they whisper, staring down at their hands…is that a blush?

The pager beeps again and you both let out a long sigh, “If we don’t do this they’re going to bug us for the rest of the evening.”

“Technically you’re the one with the pager, ” they shoot you a grin.

“And they know where you live, ” they frown at your remark.

“Ugh, fine, ” they stand walking with you and as you open the door they look up, suddenly going pale.

You stop with them, “What’s wrong?” You look up and feel yourself turn a few shades lighter. Mistletoe. “We don’t hav-”

The kiss is unexpected, a quick press against your lips.

“Tell Ortega or Anathema and I’ll drop you off a balcony, ” they say walking away as fast as they can in their suit, a bright blush against their cheeks.

You bring a hand up, fingers brushing against your lips, watching as they get lost in the crowd.


	32. n!Ortega and Herald rehab after Gala

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Could I ask for n!Ortega and Herald 💜 in O 2nd p, for them doing rehab together after the big fight. Thanx
> 
> -You got it!! :D  
> (I think Herald had to get knee surgery? when you completely beat him up. That’s what I based this off anyway.)  
> Fallen Hero ; Ortega and Herald; 2nd POV Ortega

 You can’t help the frown on your face as you watch Daniel wheel out into the room with a wheelchair. You remember waiting for him to get out of surgery, wondering if he’d die, wondering if he lived what he’d have to live with. Remembering your past… You shake your head, plastering on a small smile as he looks at you. He gives you a shaky smile in response, trying to alleviate your worries.

 “Shouldn’t your arm be in a cast?” he frowns studying your arm that lies in a sling.

 You shrug your shoulders, slightly wincing as it hurts your arm, “It was in the way, and besides it’s not that bad.” Daniel looks at you skeptically but doesn’t say anything further on the matter.

The physical therapist walks in to join you two, frowning slightly as her eyes narrow on your arm, “Really Ortega?” You smile weakly and she sighs in exasperation, setting her clipboard on a nearby table. “Daniel, right? Or do you prefer to go by Herald?” She turns giving her full attention to Daniel, ignoring your existence for the time being.

“Herald, if you don’t mind,” he smiles at her, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. You find yourself moving to stand next to him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. He glances at you nodding his head in appreciation.

She smiles softly in response, “Alright Herald, I’m Rebecca I’ll be your physical therapist as we try to get you back into shape.”

“Don’t worry she’s the best, ” you squeeze his shoulder slightly.

She gives you a deadpan look, “If I was the best, then you’d be in a cast right now and working on your own recovery.”

“We can’t all be miracle workers, ” you smile brightly and she responds by rolling her eyes.

She turns her attention back to Herald who seems at a loss as to what to say, “We’re going to need to see how far back your knee can bend.”

“Wait…so soon?” He frowns in response.

“Yes, it’s important to start your recovery as soon as possible,” she smiles reaching for her clipboard and writing down a few notes, “by tomorrow we’ll have you walking with a walker.”

Daniel visibly gulps and pales slightly, “Right.”

“Don’t worry, she knows what she’s doing, ” you give his shoulder another squeeze before moving to stand in front of him so he can clearly see your wink, “mostly.”

“If you weren’t my patient I would hit you with my clipboard, ” she glares at you but you know it has no real bite. She’s put up with you long enough that her urge to strangle you has lessened…proabably. “Alright now let’s see how far your knee can bend.”

……

“It looks like you’re walking a bit easier, ” you comment as Daniel uses his cane to walk up to you, a slight limp in his step. You remember how Rebecca reacted when he first tried to float instead of walk. He wouldn’t be forgetting that talking too for a long time.

He frowns as he sits on the bench next to you mumbling, “I’d rather be flying.” His eyes narrow on your arm, “You got a cast.”

You can feel heat start to creep into your cheeks, you cough into your good hand and look away, “Yeah… got told to stop being an idiot”

He lets out a laugh, “Well I’m sure at least Rebecca will be happy to know you listen to someone… Wait is that why you’re avoiding going into the building?”

You groan in response sinking down into the bench, “She’d never let me live it down.” He responds with more laughter… at least someone is getting some joy out of this.


	33. f!Ortega/m!sidestep  Jealous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Could you write something similar to the last fic, but replacing the older woman with a young woman, and F!Ortega feeling jealous about M!Sidestep letting her touch him?
> 
> -I went ahead and did something similar but with choosing the luxury building route.  
> Fallen Hero ; f!Ortega/ m!Sidestep ; 2nd perspective Ortega; jealousy  
> Small spoilers for Retribution below.

You stare up at the building, sunglasses, and hood masking your face. One of Hollowground’s men had been spotted here looking for someone, who exactly it is you’re not sure because that’s all your informant could find. They suspiciously forgot their own visit here, which could mean they’d been threatened or…something worse.

You quickly glance both ways down the street, before stuffing your hands into your jacket pockets and jogging across the street. In and out, just a quick look to see what you might be up against. Maybe even get a hint of the people who use the building.

The door slide opens easily revealing a luxuriously decorated hallway leading deeper into the building. You don’t hesitate as you step into the building the doors sliding shut behind you. You walk down the hall an eerie quiet settles around you until you find yourself in a larger room with several more hallways, doors and a single elevator sits behind an empty desk and chair in front of you.

You wonder if the elevator is password locked, guess you won’t know unless you try.

You duck your head down moving quickly towards it but you find your voice faltering as you hear a familiar voice drift down the right hallway.

No…what is he doing here? It couldn't…

You look between the elevator and the hallway, curiosity overcoming any other sense. You need to know.

You switch directions heading down the hall, his voice becoming clearer and you know it’s him. It had to be. With that knowledge brings so many other questions.

You stop short of the room his voice drifts out of as you hear a girl laugh.

“Really?” She snorts, her laugh becomes muffled, probably used a hand to cover it.

“Yeah, I know it’s ridiculous but that’s what happened, ” his laughter hurts to hear. When was the last time he laughed like that with you? It feels so long ago…it is so long ago.

He hasn’t told you everything about what happened after Heartbreak but you know something did happen. Because he’s lost something, a spark he once had that’s been extinguished. You have your theories and your assumptions but nothing concrete to tell you how to help him.

Footsteps start making their way towards you but you’re so lost in thought you don’t notice until your bumping into the woman. She lets out a small yelp as hot coffee is spilled onto the both of you.

“Fucking hell, Savannah are you alright?” CB moves fast touching her shoulder to steady her and she responds with a shaky smile. Her hand moving to his giving it a squeeze of thanks.

“Yeah that just startled me a bit, ” she looks at you and you can’t stop the irritated frown from showing. He touched her so easily, how long did it take for him to even give you a handshake? You shouldn’t feel this burning in your gut, you should be happy that he’s working on becoming more tactile with other people.

“Sorry, ” you say plastering on an apologetic smile as you take off your sunglasses, steadily ignoring the coffee soaking into your clothes “I wasn’t paying much attention to where I was going.”

“Julia?” CB’s minutely sharpen on you before morphing into well-constructed confusion. He’s starting to get easier to read, and you don’t know if you should be proud of that. “What are you doing here?” He lets out a loud sigh, a frown tugging on his lips, “please tell me you’re not here to check up on me.”

You shrug, taking the out you needed, “Sorry?” You don’t bother with making it convincing, it’ll be enough to get him onto focused on you checking in on him.

“Umm, sir?” The girl looks at him confused, slightly touching his arm and he looks back her with a soft smile that’s a punch to your gut. You can almost feel your eye involuntarily twitch.

“It’s okay, Savannah. Why don’t you take the day off?”

“Oh…Alright!” She nods her head happily in agreement then looks at you apologetically, “Sorry about the coffee.”

“It’s fine, it was my fault.”

She nods her head in response, turning on her heel and walking the other way down the hall.

“So…” you begin but he looks at you sharply.

“Not here, ” he grits out, walking past you, leaving you with no choice but to follow.


	34. Mob Boss Sidestep: ZaZa Fucks Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> smuteczekbiczo: Ok I adore the fluff BUUUUT 👀 Mob Boss Sidestep in the middle of the action with henchmen when Zaza, agains his order, shoots Ortega. Badly, but no lethaly (I mean unless you want to get rid of him then go ahead). And MC is FURIOUS because if someone is killing Ortega it's HIM not some fucking henchman. Love me some villain rage 😌😌👌👌(M!Sidestep, M!Ortega, their relationship whatever suits you best)
> 
> -I hope this is okay! (I left some parts ambiguous so people can fill in their own details!)  
> Fallen Hero ; 2nd pov; ZaZa fucks up

“How are we looking?” Your voice crackles, distorted through your communications, watching from up high as your team works effortlessly as they move the equipment into the parked van. They have been working well together, but you want them to stay sharp and able to handle situations without you having to step in unless it was absolutely necessary.

 “We’re looking good boss,” Pelayo voice comes through clear and strong, his mind calm and in control. It seems whatever was happening between him and Ward has been temporarily resolved.  A gunshot rings through the streets, you curse both you and Pelayo reacting immediately, “ZaZa!”

 “We’ve got a Ranger,” his voice calm you can feel him lining up another shot on…

  “DO NOT SHOOT! I’ll handle it!” You growl but he’s not listening. You step off the building allowing yourself to fall so you can intercept Ortega. “ZaZa retreat and meet Nehal for pickup!” You can feel his frustration and he’s not moving from his position even as you meet Ortega fist to fist.

 “Where’s your team Charge? Don’t you need a babysitter?” The glare he throws you makes you laugh as you easily catch his fist in your hand and knock him away. It’s always a thrill taking him apart and breaking him, it’s a show he won’t truly understand until later. You can’t wait for the dawning realization that he fucked up by trying to get close to you. By encouraging you to be a hero he only succeeded in making his own downfall.

 Your hate for him can’t be rivaled.

  _He never came. Every moment with him was a lie._

He needs to feel every ounce of despair.

_The same you felt as the day’s turned into months._

 “I’ve got a clear shot,” ZaZa’s voice echoes into your head but can you truly hear him? Your focus is on your anger, your despair, you want to hurt hi-

 It feels so slow as you watch a hole blow into Ortega’s chest, blood splattering against the pavement. He falls…he falls and you think you can see his eye’s almost dim before they close and he falls back hard against the pavement.

 You feel… ~~nothing~~ **everything…**

 “…Pelayo,” your voice is a whisper, “Get everyone else out…” You don’t bother listening for a response as you turn on your heel moving fast. You can’t look back…

_Your fault_

 Is it?

  _Is this what you wanted?_

I don’t know ~~nononononono~~

You’re already climbing the steps of the building, your body moving on its own. You see ZaZa as he climbs down the steps toward you a smirk on his face. Anger boils in your gut. You reach up removing your helmet and letting it clatter to the floor, he watches you with wide eye’s almost making to step away from you.

 He yelps as you grab his throat slamming him into the wall of the stairwell. You wonder what expression is on your face right now because it’s enough to cause more fear in him than you ever could when to him you were just a faceless villain. “You should have listened,” It comes out calm boiling rage seething beneath the words.

 You feel your hand tighten, so easy to just crush. He gasps trying to make excuses, trying to break free of your hand. You want him to suffer for hurting what’s yours.

 Is that what Ortega is… something that belongs to you?

  **Yes**

 The smile that splits your face is manic as is the chuckle that slips out. Ortega is yours and so is ZaZA but ZaZa took him from you… death would be too kind and you still have a use or two for him.

 Your face closes in close to his, your grip still tight around his throat, “Next time you’ll listen,” you hiss out, “But you still need to be punished.” Your mind reaches into his, and only you can hear his screams.


	35. f!Ortega/m!sidestep Angst (spoilers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Ok. What about 💔 for m!sidestep who just have break down because f!ortega just found out about his villian side and his tattoo and now he is just shown how broken he is (romance relationship ) from ortega point of view the detailes are up to you .( sorry about my english )
> 
> \- You got it 👍 (don’t worry your English is fine =D)  
> Fallen Hero ; f!Ortega/m!Sidestep ;2nd POV ortega; angst  
> spoilers below!!

He was broken, knocked unconscious and you should have left him there. Should of let the authorities take him but… you couldn’t. How could you of known what he was doing? That he was Revelation?

You should have known… you should have seen behind his well-constructed mask. You didn’t though…not until his real mask had cracked open and you found him hiding beneath it bleeding out.

You pace the room, unsure what to do. Bitter anger at him, at yourself, fueling each step. He’s tied to a chair, no armor nothing to protect him, nothing to help him. Nothing to hide the orange tattoos and scars that send chills down your spine. You think you’ve seen them before but you don’t know where.

He groans as his head lifts groggily upward, his eyes widening in fear as he realizes the situation he’s in. He panics struggling against the bonds.

“Don’t bother, ” your voice sounds so cold.

He meets your eyes in shock whispering a single word, “Julia.”

“Why?” A word filled with every ounce of your anger, frustration… betrayal.

He lets out a hysterical laugh, his body shakes and you think he might be on the verge of crying. “Why?” He shakes his head his voice turning just as cold as you had been, “Why…Can’t you tell why?” A snarl forms on his face, “Can’t you see why?”

“What the hell are you talking about!” You try to steady your voice but it comes out closer to a shout. “CB tell me why I had to drag your fucking stupid ass here. Because your out playing fucking Villain? Why are you doing this?”

“You didn’t have t-”

“Yes, I fucking did CB. You…ugh,” you throw your hands up high in frustration. You want to punch him and his idiocy and your idiocy too.

“You don’t recognize the tattoos.” He states realization dawning on him. He lets out another hysterical laugh, “Of course you don't… I’m not fucking real Julia.” He’s refusing to meet your eyes a look of absolute hysteria on his face. “I’m not real…”

You’re not sure how to react, he’s so much worse than you thought. Fear courses through you, you don’t know how to help him. Should you have pushed harder for him to speak with a therapist? “CB…”

He grits his teeth as you call his name, “I’M A FUCKING REGEN JULIA!”

“No, ” it slips out before you can stop it because he can’t be… no, he couldn't…oh God is that why the tattoos are familiar? Your eyes widen and you find yourself stepping back. Away from him, away from the truth.

He notices and more laughter fills the room but this time it’s accompanied by loud sobs. His head is tucked into his chest as if he’s afraid to look at you. To see your dawning realization, your fear, your anger.

“Who do you work for?” Your voice is shaking but you can’t tell if it’s from the unspeakable rage of being used or the fear of what is tied to the chair in front of you.

He quiets down and then softly answers, “No one… I don’t follow anyone orders but my own now.”

“Really, ” you can’t help the sneer of disbelief that crosses your face.

“Yes, ” he pauses then looks at you, his eyes red and puffy from tears. He looks more broken than he ever let on. Regen… they weren’t supposed to be like this…they weren’t supposed to be like him. “If your plan is to hand me back to them… please, ” his voice breaks and he closes his eyes hard, trying to keep more tears at bay, “please kill me.”

“What?” You look at him in horror and he opens his eyes and he begs again.

“Please Julia, please…I… can’t, ” he fights back another sob. Your arms cross defensively and you look towards the ground as your nails bite into your arms.

You don’t know how to handle this, you don’t know what to say. Everything is too much…you just..you need to clear your head…away from him…away from it.

You turn sharply heading for the door, trying your best to ignore his pleading.


	36. Herald and n!Sidestep Know your strength

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Can I have one where Herald forgets his strength and acccidentally hurts n!sidestep during training? Cue Herald getting all mother mode and the MC just brushing it off and going "I have trained you well" or something similar xD
> 
> -I have no idea what happened with this one but something definitely did XD  
> Fallen Hero ; Herald and n!mc, 2nd POV sidestep, Herald doesn’t know his own strength

He’s getting better, you think as you almost don’t catch his first before it slams into your stomach. You twist moving fast to counter and he blocks returning the counter. He’s improved incredibly fast since you’ve started training him. Which both gives you a surge of pride and worry.

You haven’t exactly shown him all your moves, if you did he might recognize you immediately as Anathema. But you may not need to with the way he’s quickly adapting. He could best Anathema if his self-esteem was higher. You wonder how Steel and Ortega missed this, how they let his potential go to waste by not teaching him properly… Actually, if you really think about they were both terrible teachers in the past too. It’s better this way anyway, you can control what he learns.

You’ve also noticed it has become harder to pay attention to your sparring matches with him, your mind drifting to unwanted thoughts of the past, of the present… of the future. The punch is closer than expected and you find yourself thrown back hitting the edge of the roof, almost falling.

“Shit!” He grabs you quickly making sure you don’t go over. “I’m so sorry! Are you okay?!” He’s panicking and you can’t help but let out a breathless laugh followed by a groan of pain. Fuck he might have cracked one of your ribs.

“I’m fine, ” you pat his shoulder as he helps you stand back up. He keeps a firm grip on you afraid to let go. “Damn though, you’ve gotten a lot better. Definitely took my breath away,” you smirk trying to get him to laugh, so that he hopefully calms down enough to let go.

It has… well, not the opposite effect but definitely one you should have expected. His face turns a nice shade of crimson as he realizes exactly how close he is to you and he tries to pull back away from you fast only for your jacket zipper to get caught on his shirt. He ends up pulling you both with a jolt, he topples backward floating inches above the ground with you firmly on top of him.

“Really, ” you let out an exasperated sigh. Pushing up from his chest giving him an irritated look. You try to pull back but your zipper tugs you back, uselessly attached to his shirt.

“Sorry, ” he mumbles attempting to sit up but you push him back down.

“Sit still I need to get my jacket off, ” you didn’t think his blush could go any redder but here he was proving you wrong. “My jacket zipper is caught on your shirt,” you state blankly, keeping any other emotion far away.

“Oh…sorry,” he looks away from you, mentally kicking himself. Than mentally kicking that when he remembers your a telepath.

You let out a laugh as you sit up slightly trying to remove the jacket only to stop when pain surges through your chest. Fuck yep that rib is definitely cracked.

“Fuck.”

“What’s wrong?” His embarrassment turns to worry as he notices the pain on your face.

“I apologize in advance for this.”

“Wait wha-” a loud ripping noise stops him short as you rip the jacket’s zipper off his shirt, leaving a large hole in its wake as you swiftly get off and away from him. Better this way… Probably.

He sits up looking at his shirt sticking his finger through the newly made whole, an odd look on his face. “Hmmm…”

“Consider it payback for the cracked rib, ” your joke falls flat as his head looks up sharply, eyes wide as he stares at you.

“I cracked your ribs!” His voice is panicky and he immediately stands up pacing, “Shit, I’ll get you some painkillers! And an ice pack! And… other stuff. Shit,” he turns flying off.

“Hey! Wait a sec! Do not leave me on the fucking roof!”


	37. Steel & Sidestep Catch part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: I’d honestly just like a part 3 to Catch, if you’d be so inclined, cause that shit gave me the OOMPH 
> 
> -I hope you don’t mind but I decided to switch to Steel’s perspective!  
> Fallen Hero ; Catch part 3

You hold them close as their body shutters and they let out a loud sob into your chest. Your afraid to move, to let go of them because if you do will they fall again?

You find your hold tightening, you won’t let that happen… not again. You failed last time, you failed both them and Anathema. You should have made sure they were closer to the dampeners, closer to Ortega who might have stood the chance of helping either of them. Instead, you were too focused on yourself, focused on the unwanted thoughts that snuck into your head.

You’re, not the only one who blames themselves, Ortega is just as bad. You’ve told them multiple times that there was nothing either of you could do, nothing you could have changed. You wonder how hollow those words sounded to Ortega because to you they’ve always been empty.

They shift slightly in your arms as they take a deep breath, trying to get themself back under control.

“Thanks, ” they croak out pulling back slightly though not enough to break your hold. “We should probably get out of here before more of the building comes down.”

You nod your head, their right you need to move out and hopefully get them some medical treatment-

“No!” It comes out rushed with a glare before they realize what they just said. Their eyes go wide and they quickly look away, trying to break your hold and ultimately failing. “I don’t need help.”

You let out an irritated sigh, this is one thing you did not miss, “You’ve got numerous injuries from being captured, not to mention-”

“It’s really all just artificial and-”

“And we both just survived an explosion and you most definitely have a concussion, along with other possibly more serious injuries.”

“It’s just a small concussion…”

“CB.” You look at them sternly and they roll their eyes in response.

“I can take care of myself.”

“But you don’t have to do so alone.” They freeze a shocked look on their face, staring at you like you’ve grown an extra head. It makes you realize something, they’ve always been alone, they’ve always felt alone. The thought hurts more than expected.

You thought… you figured that with Ortega around that… What? What did you expect? That because they hung around Ortega that they didn’t feel alone? That they knew they could rely on Ortega and others?

“I have to do it alone, ” it comes out as a whisper, they look down refusing to meet your eyes. They steady themself arms crossed nails digging into the sleeves of their sweater, “Let go.”

And you do. You let them go, despite your fear and your worry. Despite a small part of your mind screaming at you to hang on, to never let go. You both make your way out of the building in silence, you should say something. You should have said something because if you did maybe you could have caught them in their freefall.

But how were you to know that they would fall in a way you couldn’t easily catch them?


	38. f!Ortega/m!sidestep A path many take (Spoilers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Thank you for answering me ❤️, i hope it reach and not get eaten this time , what about male sidestep agonized and dying in female ortega arms after trying to protect her from something ( she broke up with him after knowing about his villian side ) and now she see his tattoos fot the first time , everything else is up to you , Thank you so much for taking time to write great fanfiction for us❤️ .
> 
> -Fallen Hero ; f!ortega and m!sidestep ; I’m fucking crying T-T  
> Spoilers!

This couldn’t be real… but it is and you find yourself falling to your knees next to him. He smiles at you weakly through his cracked mask his suit in pieces, there’s so much blood.

You don’t understand what’s going on, why there were regens attacking you … why the Conqueror had gotten between you and them. It plays back in your mind how they tore him to pieces, how after him they tried to attack you, how he stopped them, screaming that single word. No. It echoes in your mind, making you remember. He stopped the nanovores that way too.

And now he lays before you blood pooling beneath him, his chest piece cleanly ripped off deep lacerations seared into his chest, you almost don’t notice the bright orange marking slightly hidden under the smearing blood.

You reach out almost hesitating before you unclip his helmet removing it so you can see his battered face.

“Like what you see,” he jokes his short laugh cut off by a guttural cough.

“Shit,” you can feel the tears in your eyes. You don’t want this, you don’t want to be the reason he dies again. “What…what the fuck?” You have so many other things you want to say but you can’t find your voice. Trying so hard not to cry.

“I’m sorry Julia,” he voice comes out as a whisper, he eyes blinking heavily.

“Don’t you fucking dare fall asleep, pendejo!” You move to rip the sleeves of your shirt, trying to stem the flow of blood from his chest. “¿Por qué harías esto?” You mutter angrily. He doesn’t get to die like this, he doesn’t get to just disappear leaving you with all the regret.

“I’m sorry,” he says again, it’s so weak. Your eyes blur with tears, it doesn’t get to end this way.

You feel it when his chest stops moving when he takes his last shuttering breath and releases it with relief. You let out a sob, pressing down harder onto the wounds, “ No no no no, please no.” You can’t stop crying and you find your head resting onto his chest your fist lightly slamming against it.

“No puedes hacer esto,” your sobs are growing harder to control but you need control right now. You take a deep breathe and close your eyes, trying to calm down.

You’ve let him down again. You’ve let him die again. There are no second chances left.

The markings catch your eye again and you find your fingers tracing them, blood smearing beneath your fingers. They’re the same as the regens…

So many questions, with answers you can no longer find here. You make a decision because you need the truth. Not just for you but for him.

You start stripping off his armor leaving the heavier pieces aside, grabbing other pieces you may need. You can’t leave him here…you won’t leave him here. You grab your phone quickly dialing Wei.

“Hello?” His voice cracks over the line, and you almost feel yourself break again.

“I need you to track this phone, ” you say it calmly, calmer than you feel.

“Julia? Whats-”

“Just do it, Wei!” You shout angerly before taking a deep breath in.

You set the phone on his chest ignoring Wei’s voice that comes loudly through. CB looks more at peace than you ever thought you’d see from him. You now realize you never wanted to see him at peace, not like this.

You blink hard, fighting back another wave of tears, grabbing the cracked helmet before you disappear into the streets of Los Diablos.


	39. Sidestep Truth AU (spoilers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Hi! Your writing is amazing! Can I request an AU about how n!Sidestep gets badly hurt when helping out on a Rangers mission? Then they're admitted to a Rangers hospital, and the truth of what they are comes out. The doctor wants to hand Sidestep over to the government but Ortega and Anathema (and Steel!) are like OH HELL NO, much to Sidestep's surprise. 2nd perspective of any character will be great!
> 
> -Alright, so two things: This was going to end up way past my writing limit so I had to cut it short and couldn’t fit everything in (Though I’m most likely going to continue this later because I love the idea), and I completely forgot you requested 2nd pov, so the first part has 2nd pov and the 2nd part has 3rd… I’m sorry!  
> Fallen Hero Rebirth ; Sidestep Truth AU  
> Spoilers!

 “If you take me to a hospital… I… I’ll,” the words come out slow and slurred, your trying so hard to hold onto consciousness. “I’ll fucking murder you,” it comes out as a murmur with no actual bite; your head is starting to droop against your chest.

 “Hey,” Ortega grabs your face trying to stop you from dropping into unconsciousness, “Look at me. You need to stay awake.” They’re trying so hard to remain calm, but you can see the terror in their face splattered with blood…blood…

 Your consciousness comes swimming back, “Your hurt!”  You try to move your arm, try to touch their face but it doesn’t move. Do you even have a body to move?

 Their face contorts to pain and you wonder exactly how hurt they are, “I’m not hurt Sidestep.”

 “Don’t fucking lie,” your eyes close, why is it so hard to open them? “There’s blood,” you think you say it but you can’t tell anymore. Everything feels so quiet.

 “It’s yours-”

….

 3rd

“-Fucking stay awake!” Their voice trembles as Sidestep’s head lulls in their hands. They fall forward into Ortega’s arms completely limp but still breathing. “Fuck! Steel, Anathema we need to get them out of here!” Ortega’s voice is filled with worry, the absolute terror in their demeanor palpable. If they don’t do something fast Sidestep wasn’t going to make it.

 They can hear footstep rush towards them, Anathema kneeling by their side, “I’ll take them! Steel needs backup!” They reach out lifting and cradling Sidestep in their arms, Ortega helping them quickly stand.

 “Get them to our hospital,” Ortega hesitates a moment before squeezing Anathema’s shoulder, softly saying, “Don’t leave their side.” Anathema gives them a nod, Ortega’s told them their theories. That Sidestep is running from something … or someone. Neither of them knows what, but it’s obviously bad enough that Sidestep avoids hospitals like the plague instead of getting proper treatment.

   They run holding tightly to Sidestep, hoping they’ll make it in time.

…

 The patient the young hero brings to her has her trying to hide her smile. Luck, coincidence, fate… whatever it is, it has landed the estranged cuckoo into her lap and she’s giddy with excitement. She’ll have to fake its death, ‘How sad that they died during surgery’, mix up the wrong papers, have the body supposedly sent to be cremated. She has to cover her tracks well, after all, heroes are too nosey for their own good, even government paid ones.

 “We need to get them into surgery!” She commands, trying to turn her glee into professionalism. It’s difficult to do; this is her big break after all. No more spying on the useless Rangers, procuring DNA samples from them. No, now she had a lost cuckoo and that alone should propel her through the ranks.

 Everyone moves quickly under her command prepping the ‘hero’ cuckoo for surgery, the young hero tries to follow them in and she moves to stop them, “I’m sorry but no one who isn’t a doctor or nurse is allowed into the room.”

 “Too bad, I’m going,” they respond with a shrug and a grin; determination set in their stance. It makes her eye twitch. She could try to deny them but that could lead to other risks… She’ll have to come up with something else…

 “Fine, It’s not my place to argue with a Ranger but you should be fully aware that you’re putting them at greater risk,” she has a plan. They don’t bother responding walking past her, missing the manic grin on her face for a few seconds.

 The surgery goes well, the damage the cuckoo sustained not as life-threatening as everyone had feared. Her people work aside the regular hospital staff and they keep glancing between her and the markings. They know and they’re waiting for her command. Perfect.

 She motions silently, something easily missed by those untrained and suddenly an alarm starts blaring into the room. The hospital staff start to panic. You turn to the ranger, schooling your voice into a panic, “Get out! There’s some kind of contamination!” They don’t move for a second worriedly glancing at their friend as their vital’s suddenly drop, “Fuck! Out Now!”

 They move fast leaving the room quickly, the doors slamming shut behind them. Everyone but you and your people are in a panic. Someone saying the system is wrong, you respond your voice cold, “Oh no, this whole lab is contaminated.” No one hears the gunshots as the alarms blare.

….

   “Where are they!” Ortega yells angrily at Anathema who flinches back. They don’t know what happened, but 4 people where dead, 5 were missing… and so was Sidestep.

 “I don’t know! They said there was some kind of contamination and then Sidestep’s vitals dropped and…” Their face scrunches up trying to stop themself from not crying, “I panicked and left… I didn’t know if it was my fault.” Their left arm crosses their chest, nails digging into their other arm.

 “I…I’m sorry,” Ortega places a hand on their shoulder only for Anathema to shrug it off looking away from them.

 “There’s something else…” they whisper, their eyes firmly meeting Ortega’s, “They had… tattoos.”

 “So?” Ortega looks at them quizzically.

 “Not normal tattoos,” they say slowly, not sure how to describe the situation as Steel walks up to them.

 “I’ve got a lead,” he says it gruffly giving Anathema a narrowed look; they need to discuss this privately and at a later date.

 “Great! Let’s go fucking save them!”


	40. Argent/Sidestep Sweets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Ahhhh I love your prompts, they're amazing! Since you have lots of prompts right now, feel free to add this at the very bottom, but may I suggest some Argent/Sidestep? I really enjoyed the last Argent one you did
> 
> -I hear Argent likes sweets so I went with that for this prompt! :D  
> Fallen Hero ; Argent/Sidestep; 2nd pov

You sit back in the chair, feet pushing off from the table, a spoon in your mouth as you pretend to listen to Ortega and Harold as they discuss something or other. You honestly lost track maybe ten minutes ago.

You pop the spoon out of your mouth, digging it into the cup of chocolate pudding you purloined from their fridge. You wish they would stock the fridge with better sweets but the pudding was definitely better than nothing.

Argent walks in, heading towards the fridge and steadily ignoring all of you. She opens the fridge door and pauses… you swear the room might have dropped a few degrees but neither Harold or Ortega have noticed.

“Who ate my pudding?” She turns to look at you all, a cold glare on her face that causes both Ortega and Herald to shut up. Their eyes quickly glancing in your direction before looking away innocently.

Her eyes narrow at you as you smirk, putting a large spoonful in your mouth. You can see her mouth tense as she grits her teeth but she doesn’t make a move towards you, instead turning and leaving without a word.

….

The next time you visit there are no sweets in the fridge, which you had honestly expected. You sigh closing the door, at least you brought a bag of gummy bears. And if you happen to run out of that you can just put a… ‘generous’ amount of sugar in some coffee.

You exit the kitchen heading out into the hall, you’ve been hanging around here more often than you should. Admittedly it’s been to gather information and hamper any progress made in identifying your villain persona but the more often you do it the more you feel like your falling into a trap of your own making.

You’re having… fun. What’s worse is that the fun is spreading to your villain persona through Argent. She’s always a challenge when you fight and it’s absolutely thrilling. Every hit, every block, every flirt causes an excitement you didn’t know you could have.

You should not be having fun though, you have more important things to focus on. Better things to have your mind focused on, and not wondering how Argent’s skin feels or what it would be like to kiss her. Would it be a battle for dominance like when you fight? Would you give in? Would she?

Wait… why the fuck are you thinking this. No no no, this is not a path you are going to walk down. You are not thinking about kissing Argent.

Your shoulder slams into an unexpected force; a fucking stupid mistake, you should have been paying more attention-

It’s Argent… oh, no…oh fuck no.

You hope that the blush you obviously feel isn’t actually noticeable but then you see your face reflected back and… fuck, that is very obviously a blush.

“Sorry,” you look away from her and start to walk back down the hall, trying to ignore her presence and the smirk on her face.

“Yep,” she says unexpectedly lightly like she’s holding in a smug laugh.

You’re walking out of the building when you realize the packet of gummy bears is missing from your jacket.

This means war.

….

“What the-” coffee dribbles out of her mouth as she tries to spit it back out into the cup.

You sip your own as you rest again the counter. “Is something wrong Argent?” You ask emphasizing the fake innocence into it. You know exactly what’s wrong.

Her eyes narrow as she wipes her mouth with a balled up hand. She glares between you and the coffee her mind clearly at work.

“Absolutely nothing,” she picks the coffee up, stares at you unblinking and slowly drinks the cup, never breaking eye contact.

She places the cup down, her tongue catching a stray drop on her lip and find yourself swallow reflectively, fuck. You didn’t expect that…

….

You set the box down in front of her, and she looks at you suspiciously. Probably wondering what you thinking.

“Peace offering,” you say settling into the seat beside her. “It’s some cakes, they’re good…,” you find yourself saying awkwardly. You’re not as sure of yourself as you were a few minutes ago.

She hesitates before opening the box to reveal about a dozen small cakes. “Thanks,” it’s a bit forced out and she’s still looking at it like you might have poisoned it.

You shrug your shoulders in response, “They’re from a place me and Anathema used to go to… I was surprised it was still open.”

“Why wouldn’t they be open?” She lifts one of the cakes to her mouth and just as she’s about to take a bite-

“They’ve always had a roach problem,” you laugh as she glares at you, mouth open about to take a bite into the cake, “I’m kidding. It’s in a part of the city that’s starting to crumble.”

She takes the bite but continues to glare at you. You can’t help it, it’s fun teasing her.

You shrug again looking away, “I thought they would have moved by now because of it but no they’re just as stubborn and stupid as everyone else in Los Diablos.”

She snorts in response and you find yourself drawn back to looking at her. Watching her as she carefully licks some frosting from her fingers. Gulping as unwanted thoughts fill your head.

Fuck, now is not the time.

“Something wrong?” She asks with a smirk. You respond by grabbing one of the cakes taking a large bite out of it.

“Absolutely nothing.”


	41. f!Ortega/m!sidestep 1st Angst continued (Spoilers)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> anon:Omg that angst 😭😭just broke my heart really well done , can you make another part , I need to know what will ortega do next ? Will she return him back?💔💔. now excuse me while i go to cry in a corner .
> 
> -Haha… I am so fucking sorry for this  
> Fallen Hero ; f!ortega/m!sidestep angst continued  
> Spoilers and TW: Suicide Mention

You don’t know what to do. It’s been three hours and you’re terrified of setting foot back into the room. His screams only stopped an hour ago, your tears only moments ago. You need to go back, to demand answers you no longer desire. You can’t leave him in there, tied to a chair… No, you can’t leave **it** in there.

 It’s not human, it admitted that to you and it’s used you, manipulated you. You should…you can’t keep forcing yourself to think like this. You can’t think of him like this. All the memories, all the pain, blood and tears you’ve shared with each other… all the laughter, the love, the care. How can you abandon those memories because he’s… he’s a Regen.

 From what you know Regen’s are supposed to be artificial, they’re supposed to not even be able to think but he’s different. He suffers alongside you, he cares about stupid things that always bring a smile to his face, he cries… and he felt more alive than anyone you’d ever meet … than everything changed. Trauma can easily warp a person, change them in unexpected ways. You know this first hand but what if it wasn’t trauma? What if this fake took his place?

 You grit your teeth, is he really dead and they decided to send a fake in his place? To gain what? To infiltrate the Rangers through you? How could they have anticipated where you would be that day though? His reaction was more surprised than anything and he’s been masquerading as a villain… A fluke maybe, one that they realized they could exploit in their grand scheme of what though?

_“…I don’t follow anyone’s orders but my own now.”_

Truth? Or another lie to go with the many he’s already told?

 A frustrated growl rips through your throat and your head bangs into your hands before finally coming to rest in them. You could ask him for the truth but how would you know what’s a lie and what’s the truth.

_“ …please kill me.”_

 How could he ask something like that of you? Even if he’s a fake he obviously has the memories both from the past and the ones you’ve made recently. How can you ask someone who loves you to kill you? Because you don’t want to go to jail? But it wouldn’t be jail would it… no, it would be back into whoever’s hands created him.

 What if he’s not a fake… if he has for sure always been a regen? It would explain so much about him that you tried not to question so he could have his privacy. Is his terror of them why he never told you… or is the reaction you had the reason? What torture would you be sending him back too if you gave him up?

 You let out a bitter laugh, it feels like all you’ve ever done is fail him. He’s human in so many way’s and in all the way that makes anyone human. You can’t give him to them, but you don’t know if you can forgive the manipulation, the lies. Maybe you don’t have to forgive him though, but you do need to understand better.

 You stand, legs shaking and make your way back towards the room. You’ll ask, you’ll listen and then you can make a decision. Now isn’t the time to go charging into things you need to calm down and think this through. There’s so much at stake for not just you but for him.

 You open the door letting it swing open slowly revealing him to you. His head is bowed down, resting into his chest exposed chest, blood staining the bandages you placed on him when he was unconscious.

 “I need you to tell me the truth,” your voice shakes. You need to know truth, no matter how much you don’t want to hear it. You don’t want to know if you really were just something for him to use, to manipulate.

 He’s quiet head still bowed, not moving an inch. You walk closer, anger starting to fill your veins. _Why isn’t he taking the chance you’re giving him?_ It pisses you off. You reach for him trying to make him look at you.

 “CB! Tell me what the fucki-“ You choke back the scream as you notice the blood running out of his mouth. His face pale, almost lifeless. NO no no no what did he no nonnono

 “Fucking Fuck! You did not,” You let out a choked sob untying him, you don’t know what to do, you don’t know how to handle this. Is he even still alive?

 You get him on the floor, feel for a pulse… it’s so faint…

 Your hands shake as you grab the cellphone from your pocket. Dialing in a number you know by heart.

 “Hello?”

 “Wei, I don’t know what to do,” you’re crying and you don’t know if he even understands. “It’s my fault, it’s all my fault again.”

 “Julia where are you? What happened?”

 “I was too afraid, I should have asked but I ran away,” another loud sob and you can’t keep speaking. It’s all your fault and you don’t know how to fix this.


	42. Steel/m!Sidestep angst

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: I need more Steel/m! sidestep angst..... Preferably romance? But I just need it! And I love your writing
> 
> -I hope this is okay! :D  
> Fallen Hero ; Steel/m!Sidestep angst ; Steel 2nd pov

He stands at the edge of the roof a silhouette against the sun. You want to move towards him but you find yourself hesitating, a lump in your throat. Something feels wrong but you can’t tell what.

“Why did you give up?” He asks his voice lifeless. The sun falls further causing the light to look like a sea of blood that his black shadow wades through towards you.

“I haven’t,” you try to force out but it comes out…wrong. It doesn’t sound right to your ears. You want to reach for him, to bring him back from the edge.

“You did,” his head tilts to the side, “You gave up and left me to die.” The shadow grows closer, an orange outline highlighting his form, bleeding into it.

“I didn’t know-”

“If you had known would it have changed anything?” His voice becomes more and more bitter.

“I…” would it have? Would you have still given up even with the truth? Would you have left him and missed the opportunity to truly know him? To see him in a new light? To love him?

“You would have,” he says as his shadow envelopes you. The world around you turns black and you stand knee deep in blood that pours off the edge, his form no longer a silhouette. He stands fully clothed in his old outfit but its ripped and bloodied. “Because you know there’s nothing worth saving.”

You grit your teeth. That isn’t true, there’s so much worth saving. So much your willing to risk for him, to give up for him. Just so he can have the chance to live, just so you can have the chance to hold him and never let go.

He tethers on the edge of the roof a step between safety and death. The fear constricts you keeping you in place. Terrified. If you make the wrong move will he fall into the abyss?

“You’ll give up again,” he whispers it but the sound comes from everywhere echoing, “you’ll leave me to suffer.”

“I’m not going to give up!” You scream it as loud as you can but it sounds muffled and distorted. _An empty promise._

It’s not! You try again, over and over until your voice is raw. Trying so hard to drive home the fact that you won’t give up on him.

You want so badly to move, to hold him gently against you. To murmur quietly to him that you won’t give up again. You won’t give up.

But your body betrays you, not allowing you to rush forward. Keeping you firmly in place within his ever-growing shadow.

His step hovers over the edge. You can see his face battered, streaked with blood and tears but then it’s his back covered in countless scars. Tainted orange bleeding out from him. He falls forward and all you can do is scream.

You tear out of your sweat covered sheets, trying to calm your breathing and bring yourself back to reality. You close your eyes as your left-hand wipes down your face. Just a nightmare.

You find yourself reaching blindly to the space next to you only to find it empty and cold. You quickly squelch the fear that tries to rise. This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.

You sigh, getting out of the bed and heading to the living room. The TV is on but is probably more of a background noise. You find him curled up and asleep on the couch, covered in his usual layers with Spoon snuggling next to him.

Relief floods through you and you find yourself sitting on the open space left on the couch. Spoons head turns toward you, tail wagging happily but he stays put next to CB. Maybe Spoon is just as scared as you are that he’ll one day disappear without a trace.

You lean back into the couch, resting your head and allowing your eyes to close once more. Sleep slowly finding you again.

“Don’t give up,” a soft murmur that jolts you fully awake. You look at him but his shallow breaths don’t betray any wakefulness. He curls in tighter, a slight whimper escaping. You reach out, hand gently resting on his knee.

“I won’t.”

_An empty promise._


	43. Steel/f!Sidestep feelings are weird

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: your writing are amazing especially the angst sweet sweet angst. 💜❤️can you write something about steel realising he have feeling for female sidestep ? Which be the way a very kind and warm sidestep .
> 
> -Soooo….. this turned a bit more of a Bi panic with m!Ortega thrown in…. yep  
> Fallen Hero ; Steel/f!Sidestep ; Steel 2nd pov; feelings are weird

Her warm laughter fills the room, eyes crinkling happily as Ortega finishes his ridiculous joke. It warms you in an unexpected way, making you bite back your own smile that threatens to join hers.

Instead, you find yourself crossing your arms and a frown forcibly put into place. You don’t know why it’s like this. Why everytime she’s near you feel warm like you’ve found someplace to comfortably exist. And every time you're away from her you’ve found your thoughts straying to her. It’s an unexpected development and your not sure how to handle it.

She turns toward you bright smile lighting up her face, your heartbeat pounds in your chest. “Don’t look so grumpy Chen,” she laughs her finger reaches out poking between your eyebrows, “I hear if you scowling like that it’ll stay that way.” Her smile turns soft but it feels like all you can hear is the blood rushing to your face. “Besides Ortega’s joke wasn’t that bad…” she cringes jokingly, still trying to get you to smile.

“I’m pretty sure a 14-year-old could tell better jokes,” you deadpan and she responds by trying to hold in her laugh turning it into a snort. A blush heats her cheeks and she looks away from the both of you as Ortega complains that his joke was good.

You ignore him, your attention fully focused on her and the way the sunlight from the window highlights her and her blush. She’s beautiful…wait…What!? Where did that thought come from?! You don’t even…do you? Wait no no no. This is… what is this? No. Your not… oh, fucking hell this is not the time for this.

You have to work to unclench your jaw, thoughts still rapidly panicking. You’re not currently in a position to work through… whatever that is.

You know exactly what it is.

And right now you’re going to work on denying it with every fiber of your being until you can either sort it out later or bury it so far down it’ll never know the light of day again.

Ortega grips your shoulder bringing you out of your thoughts, only to have his own bright smile cause more chaos in your mind. Fuck this whole situation.

You shrug off his hand and find yourself storming out of the room. Away from him, away from her, as far away as you possibly can get from both of them.

And you try not to think of her warm laugh, the kindness she shows to everyone and everything, and the way she makes you feel at home. You also try not to think of his troublemaking smile, the bravery, and stupidity he shows every day, and the way he makes you feel alive.

You had thought that you were gay, proven by your feelings for Ortega (which you were supposed to be over) but then you had to grow closer to her. All that has led to, is more confusion. How is this even a possibility for you? You had been so sure…

But then she had come out of nowhere and sucker punched her way into your thoughts. You know you’ve caught your thoughts wandering: How would it feel to touch her? To run a hand through her hair? But you’d always cut yourself off, shaking away the thoughts before they could go farther.

Now…now you should probably face the truth… but in the end, it’s always easier to hide it away. The feelings would go away eventually just like what you did with Ortega… but the feelings didn’t go away, did they?

No now you're stuck in an even more complicated and confusing situation. You wonder if running away to another city is an option.


	44. N!Sidestep/m!Ortega movie night!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: N!Sidestep/m!Ortega movie night!!! Other rangers optional
> 
> -I blame discord for what happened with the movie XD  
> Fallen Hero ; N!Sidestep/M!Ortega ; 2nd pov Sidestep; Movie night!

“What’s the emergency?” you rush into the room stuttering to a stop when you see Ortega lounging on the couch, relaxed, with a smirk on his face. This is definitely not the life threatening situation Ortega had led you to believe there was. Did he lie to get you here? Oh he fucking did, “Ricardo I fucking swear if you-”

 “No swearing~” Anathema’s voice comes from behind you blocking the only exit. Fuck. They’ve got you cornered, with the only choice being to suffer _Movie Night_ , a shudder ripples through you.

 It hadn’t started out this way, in fact, movie nights had been fun until they started running out of popular movies to show you. Now they were grabbing whatever weird monstrous movies they could get their hands on. Which, admittedly, you had also enjoyed until they started escalating in hours… last time was by far the worst. A fucking 24-hour nightmare where no escape could ever be found. It had left you wondering if maybe they were both actually insane.

 You sigh in defeat plopping yourself next to Ortega on the couch whose arm immediately goes around you, “You shouldn’t call me for emergencies if there aren’t any.” Anathema takes the seat next to you boxing you in. They’re both going to regret this later, you’re going to make both of them pay.

“It’s an incredibly drastic emergency though,” he says looking at you with an utterly serious, “The fact that you haven’t seen ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is no laughing matter.”

 "Oh no,“ you move trying to escape but they both have you locked down between them. “I don’t want to sit through a movie that you guys have told me, multiple times, lasts three whole days,” you glare at them.

 Ortega shrugs, “It was an exaggeration.”

 "Kinda.“

 "It’s technically closer to 12ish hours.”

 "And it’s 3 movies so you can split it within 3 days, however since you’re already here we may as well binge it.“

 "I’m not sitting here for 12ish hours!” You say panicked but they ignore you, Ortega already turning on the movie with the remote. “Please-”

 Anathema elbows you with a smile and wink, “Shhh.”

 You groan falling back into the couch, you wish it would swallow you before the night is over but Ortega’s arm is a firm comfort keeping you from any danger of becoming a part of the couch. You should bite his fucking hand because the movie sure as fuck isn’t going to be over by the time the night is.

 It started out fine; in fact, you could say that it was starting to be an interesting movie… until they started singing. You can’t help but stare at the screen as the Hobbit starts to burst into song, inexplicable fear powering through you.

_“…Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight-“_

 “Nope!” You push forward with as much power as you can muster but between Ortega and Anathema, you go nowhere, “Fucking hell. Chen! I’m being held fucking hostage!” You scream at the top of your lungs for the only rational mind in the whole building. You may not like each other but you know he wouldn’t let them force this on you against your will.

 Ortega looks at you with a smirk and absolute dread fills your veins with ice. Fuck.

….

The first movie ends and you don’t feel real anymore, at least Steel and Sentinel brought snacks with them. You’re still going to murder them all though. This is how villains are made, being forced to sit through several renditions of Mamma Mia, which somehow fit every single fighting scene? Not to mention the couple renditions of Dancing Queen thrown in, which why would you sing that when someone fucking dies??

 Ortega must see that you’re dying slowly on the inside because at some point in your haze you find the TV off and everyone else gone from the room. He studies you worriedly, “Are you ok?”

 “yep,” you pop the p and sigh leaning your head on his shoulder. “Please tell me that we somehow finished that whole,” you wave your hand towards the TV, “thing.” He chuckles planting a soft kiss onto your head.

 “It really isn’t that bad.”

 “… It’s not…but I don’t think I can handle binging a 12ish hour series without cutting it into chunks.”

 “I figured which is why we stopped after the first one.”

 You groan, “Fuck I thought we at least got through two of those…”

 His arm wraps tighter around you “It’s a classic. I don’t know why you don’t like it?”

 “That wasn’t even really ‘The Lord of the Rings’,” You glare at him and he pulls back looking at you offended, “Sentinel was kind enough to tell me the truth.”

 “Fuck,” he sounds disappointed and you let out a chuckle of your own before closing your eyes. Trusting a liar to not do anything as you sleep.


	45. Argent/f!Sidestep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Would it be fine to ask for some Argent/f!Sidestep? Something post-unmasking?
> 
> -I went ahead and tried to write from Argent's perspective! I hope that’s ok!  
> Fallen Hero ; Argent/F!Sidestep ; Argent 2nd pov

You follow behind adjusting your sunglasses and hood, just another person in the crowd to everyone but her. Her telepathy would have outed you the moment you spotted and started following her. You find yourself smirking, you made sure she was fully aware of your presence.

Heartbreak, Sidestep…CB all one in the same woman. You’d like to say you were surprised but it had more sense than anything else has. Not to mention you like the challenge she presents. She was fun to fight and flirt with as Heartbreak, and you’re finding more and more that she’s just as fun when she’s CB. A different kind of fun but fun all the same.

She turns down an abandoned street, your every step echoing hers. You can already predict what she’s going to do and she’s fully aware of that. A game that you’re both playing, seeing who will break first. You can almost see her manic grin that mirrors your own, with each thought you loudly think.

She turns down an alley and when you turn the corner you let her push you against the wall. Her hands stay firm holding you in place, though you’re both aware that you could easily break it.

“And what do we have here?” She’s smirking at you like she’s just caught her prey but it’s you who has caught her. She takes your sunglasses off putting them on herself, “A little hero playing chase?”

You growl switching your positions so that she’s now slammed against the wall, “Yes, and I seem to have finally caught my prey.”

The kiss is heated and hungry, lasting until she needs to break it for air. The taste of her cherry lip balm lingers and you find yourself licking your lips. Her face is flushed red and she lets out a breathless laugh, her arms hooking around your neck. A snake coiling around another predator.

“That wasn’t fair you know,” she pouts at you but you can hear the excitement in her voice.

You raise an eyebrow and smirk, “Whatever do you mean?” You know exactly what she means.

She chuckles, echoing your thoughts out loud, “You know exactly what I mean. Those weren’t innocent thoughts you were sending my way.”

“Oh,” you say with a shocked expression, exaggerating your innocence, “I was just thinking to myself. I completely forgot about your… talent.”

“Those were some very loud thoughts to be thinking to yourself, ” she eyes you unbelievably, your both fully aware of the truth.

“As loud as possible when it comes to you,” you smirk pressing another kiss to her lips before stepping back. Her arms reluctantly let you go. “I’m guessing you were off to your secret lair?”

She snorts, “Wouldn’t you like to know.” She brushes down her clothes smoothing them, a nervous habit you’d noticed a while back. “I’m not telling my ‘enemy’ where I was headed.”

“It’s cute that you think I actually care about being ‘enemies’,” trying to stave off an inevitable argument you shove your hands into the jacket nonchalantly but you end up pulling them out with a slight grimace, the whole outfit your wearing feels too restricting. Too much covering, a hindrance that would slow you down. Even if it would only slow you down for a moment, a moment is still too long in any situation.

She notices because she always seems too when it comes to you. You’ve found that she can be as observant as you can be but then there are times you wonder how something so obvious goes over her head.

“Do you want to go to my apartment?” She asks trying to play it cool but you can see the deep red burning her cheeks and hear the hitch of anxiety in her words. She’s giving you something, a fragile trust. One she could abandon if need be.

You sweep your arm out towards the end of the alley you both had come from, “Lead the way.”

She nods her head in an affirmative and starts to lead but stops as you tap her shoulder. She turns and you gently reach out removing your sunglasses from her face and placing it back onto yours.

“Oh…right,” she hesitates before letting out a breathless chuckle as she shakes her head. Continuing to lead the way unprompted. Conversation dies between you two as you walk, becoming more of a comfortable quiet coexistence between the two of you.


	46. f!Ortega and Steel A path many take part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anon: Wow, ok after that last prompt with F!Ortega sewing Sidestep/Conqueror die I’ve had a great idea for a prompt: Steel and F!Ortega, 💔, Ortega becomes Vencedor/Conquistador in their grief and Steel and the team has to fight them and figures out who they are. It’s almost poetic this way, that heroes keep falling to villians in a cycle. Esto nos va a doler mucho a todos.
> 
> -I hope this is ok!  
> @chaniters Thank you so much for helping me with the Spanish!!!  
> Fallen Hero ; Steel and F!Ortega ; 2nd pov Steel

  Julia and CB are both gone with no trace or trail to follow. You had tried to follow the signal to Julia's phone but it had disappeared as you made your way towards it. You had luckily marked the spot down, and when you arrived there was nothing to find.   
  The small amount of wreckage there could have easily always been there. The bloodstains almost washed away could have been there from past battles,  past disasters. Fear had coursed through you all the same though.   
  Julia was a ghost on the wind, you went looking for her and when that had proved fruitless you went looking for CB. All you found was a fresh set of flowers on his grave. Questions had filled your head.  
  Who have you lost now? Who is to blame?  
  Two questions you don't know the answer too. Not to mention that the Conqueror has… changed. It seems another Villain has taken over their appearance, altering it, calling themselves Vencedor.   
  
**_Several months ago:_**  
  
_They stand before you, a foot planted firmly on the politician’s chest as he squirms in fear beneath them. This isn't the Conqueror's usual MO but this isn't the Conqueror is it? The armor is so similar the helmet almost exactly the same except for the golden cracks in the faceplate and armor._

_They let out an irritated growl when they notice you and the other rangers._

_“Insectos patéticos! Acaso han venido a salvar a sus amos?” Their voice distorting, disguising any familiarity, but their irritation is clear as they press down harder onto the politicians chest making him scream in pain._

_Herald steps forward angrily, “Conqueror! We’ll stop-”_

_You put a hand on his shoulder keeping him from doing anything hasty. This isn’t the Conqueror you’ve been fighting for almost a year now. You don’t know who this is or what kind of tricks they have up their sleeves._

_“Mocoso imberbe! No soy Conqueror. Yo soy Vencedor, y Seré tu perdición,” they kick forward knocking their hostage unconscious, “Considerate afortunado, ya tengo lo que necesito.”_

_A cloud of smoke surrounds them, goosebumps rise against your skin and then they’re gone without a trace._

 

  You'd like to say you didn't connect the dots. That your ignorant to what was happening but battle after battle it was becoming so very clear. CB had been the Conqueror and as much as you'd like to hope otherwise, he was without a doubt gone. Dead to some unknown threat, maybe even dead by Vencedor’s… Julia's hands. You hope that's not the case, you hope that she hasn't fallen that far yet.

  You'd already failed CB, you don't know if you could handle losing your closest friend to this path of destruction. You have to stop her, make her come to her senses and realize that what she's doing helps no one. It won't bring him back.

  The building you walk into is decrepit, you’d almost say abandoned but you know better.

  “¿Por qué has entrado a la guarida del lobo?” her distorted voice tinted with sadness echoes into the emptiness of the building.

  “Déjate de juegos Julia,” you find yourself coming to a stop in the center room. Waiting quietly for her.

  You hear her snort in response no distorter this time. Her voice comes from behind you, tired and sarcastic, “Julia está jodidamente muerta.”

  You turn to her and she certainly does look it. Dark circles under her eyes that seem to be so much duller. She leans against the wall in full gear, twirling her helmet in her hands.

  “You look like shit.”

  She barks out and lets herself slide down the wall until she's sitting against it. “I think that's an understatement,” she shakes her head.

  “What happened Julia?” you ask because there's no point avoiding why you're here.

  She starts to laugh again but it quickly turns hysterical tears running down her face. You move kneeling beside her, letting her cling to you as she lets out heavy sobs.

 

_*translation_

_-_ _Pathetic insects! Perhaps they have come to save their masters_

_-Beardless brat! I'm not Conqueror. I am Vencedor, and I will be your downfall_

_-_ _Consider yourself lucky, I already have what I need._

_\- Why did you enter the wolf's den?_

_-_ _Stop playing Julia_

_-Julia is fucking dead_


	47. m!sidestep/Steel Nightmares and comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey so I absolutely love your writing and if it's not too much to ask (if you are taking suggestions) maybe a romanced steel comforting m!sidestep after a nightmare?
> 
> -I hope this is okay!  
> Fallen Hero ; m!sidestep/Steel ; Steel 2nd pov ; Nightmares and comfort

  You’re just barely awake enough to dodge the fist aimed at your face. You roll back just as it lands with a hard thump against your pillow. CB whines loudly in his sleep his body shaking uncontrollably as his hand blindly grips your pillow. You sit up watching him, trying to determine if the nightmare is severe enough to warrant waking him up or if it’s better to let him try to sleep through it.

  
 It’s difficult to respect his distance when he’s right in front of you, where you can easily reach out to touch him, to hold him and try to comfort him but you know it’s necessary. Sometimes it’s better to go through the nightmare, he’ll hopefully forget he even had one when he wakes up in the morning. Unless, of course, he starts turning violent…that’s already happened a number of times.

  
 You’ve awoken before to find him tearing through the sheets trying to claw off his skin. Absolute terror pouring off of him, directly affecting your own state of being without him meaning too. It doesn’t happen as often as it used too but the progress to stop that behavior has been paltry, to say the least. He’s also incredibly jumpy when being woken from a nightmare; coming out of it and at first immediately registering you as a threat through his hazy mind. That thankfully has only happened a few times.

  
 So you wait and you watch as he brings your pillow closer to his chest, whimpering into it. His breathing starting to slow and even out. You think he might fall back into a natural sleep until his eyes immediately shoot open, a scream tearing out of his throat. Terror and dread flow through you and you bring up the shield he’s taught you to build, a small defense against his uncontrollable projected emotions.

  
 He sits up breathing heavily, you don’t move to immediately touch him. Waiting for his mind to process where he is. It takes a few minutes for him to settle his breathing, for the haze to clear from his eyes. He looks up at you tears starting to form but he quickly uses his sleeve to rub them away.

  
 "Hey,“ he croaks out, his voice shaky.

  
 "Hey. Can I…?” You leave the question open as you hold a hand out towards him and he eagerly takes it pulling you close so that you can gently hold him against you. “Do you want to talk about?”

  
 After a moment of hesitation, he shakes his, “No… it’s already fading anyway.”

  
 "Alright,“ you stroke his hair lightly and he takes in a large steadying breath of air.  
 "Did you want to try to sleep again?” You ask but you already know the answer.

  
 "Not really,“ he mumbles against you.

  
 "Coffee and mindless television than?”

  
 "Fuck yes,“ he pushes a bit off you and you find him pressing his lips against yours in a chaste kiss that turns slow and languid. When he finally pulls away he has a small relieved smile on his face.

  
 You follow him; leaving the bed to go straight to the kitchen. The usual nightly routine you’ve both fallen into when one of you wakes from a nightmare. Neither of you has tried to go back to sleep afterward, not wanting to risk another nightmare disturbing either of yours sleep.

  
 Spoon happily pads into the room with the both of you, sitting happily next to CB as he takes his usual seat. You immediately start brewing the coffee turning to watch him blankly stare at the table as his hand automatically pets Spoon. Spoon happily wags his tail setting his head onto CB’s lap.

  
 The coffee pot dings and you fall into the habit as you finish making your coffees. You lightly put his cup on the table, sharply rasping your knuckles on the table next to it to get his attention. His head sharply moves gaze finding yours as he looks at you blankly before shaking the fog from his brain.

  
 "Thank you,” he murmurs reaching for the cup with one hand and giving Spoon one final scratch before motioning him away. CB stands following you quietly into the living room, immediately snuggling close to you as you both take a seat on the couch. Spoon jumping up to join the both of you.

  
 You turn the television on at some point, neither of you really watching as you sip your coffee’s, taking comfort in each other.


End file.
